The Council has a duty to all of its
taxpayers to collect the Council Tax within a very limited time
scale and in accordance with Central Government regulations.
If you would like more information
about our Council Tax billing, collection, recovery &
enforcement policy, please click
here.
We do not want you to build up debts and as such will follow
the recovery and enforcement procedure set out
below.
If, however, you believe that you may be entitled to
either a Council Tax
exemption,
disabled
relief or
discount that would reduce the amount payable
on your bill, please contact us on (01748) 829100 and ask to speak
to a member of the Local Taxation Team, or alternatively you can
e-mail us at
In addition, if you are on a
low income and have not applied for Council Tax
Benefit, please contact us on (01748) 829100 and ask to speak
to a member of the
Benefits Team, or alternatively you can e-mail
us at
mailto:benefits@richmondshire.gov.uk
For more information on a specific
recovery procedure, please click on the appropriate bookmark
below.
Other information
Reminders:
If you have not paid your instalment
by the due date the Council will issue you with a reminder. This
requires that you pay the missed instalment(s) within 7 days from
the date of its issue.
If you do not bring your account
up-to-date within the required 7 days, you will lose the right to
pay your Council Tax by instalments. A final notice will then be
issued reaffirming that the full balance is now due.
Please note that the Council does
not have to send you a reminder each time you miss an instalment,
as the law only requires us to send a maximum of two reminders in
any financial year. So, if you receive the two reminders in the
year and after each one bring your instalments up-to-date, should
you fall behind again you will not be sent a third reminder, you
will immediately be sent a final notice requesting the full
remaining balance.
Once you have been issued with a
final notice, if you do not pay the full amount within the required
seven days, you will be sent a summons and will have to pay Court
costs as well as your Council Tax.
We will, however, be willing to
suspend the final notice and reinstate your instalments if you
contact the Council to arrange to bring your account up to date and
set up a Direct Debit instruction for future instalments.
Please note that if a final notice
is suspended and you either fail to maintain your payments or
cancel the above Direct Debit instruction, you will be issued with
a summons without further notice.
If you receive a summons and do not
pay in full before the hearing, the Council will apply for a
'liability order'.
Should you pay the outstanding charge but not the summons
costs, the Council will still apply for the liability order.
Please note that the Magistrates
will not discuss settlement of your account. So unless you wish to
defend against the Council's application it will not be necessary
for you to attend Court.
If, however, you do wish to attend
Court please arrive at least 15 minutes before the hearing time so
that a member of the Local Taxation Team can interview you.
At the hearing the Council will provide evidence to the Court
that the Council Tax has been correctly set, advertised &
demanded, that the appropriate recovery documents have been issued
and that it has not all been paid.
If the Court is satisfied with the evidence it will issue a
liability order for the amount outstanding.
The defences against the granting of a liability order are
very limited. These are,
- that there is no entry in relation to the dwelling in the
Valuation List, (outstanding appeals against a valuation assessment
will not be accepted),
- that the tax had not been properly set,
- that the tax has not been demanded in accordance with the
statutory provisions,
- that the amount demanded has been paid,
- that more than six years have elapsed since the day on which
the sum became due,
- that the sum outstanding is in respect of a penalty which is
the subject of an appeal or arbitration, or
- that bankruptcy or winding up procedures have been
initiated.
It will not be necessary in such proceedings for the Council
to prove that a defendant is the liable person, or that the award
of an exemption, disabled relief or discount should have been
granted. The valuation tribunal deals with appeals in this respect.
Consequently these matters may not be raised as a defence against
the application for a liability order.
Furthermore the Court cannot, at this stage take account of
your personal circumstances as to why you have not paid.
With regards to the service of Council Tax bills, reminders
and final notices, these are generally issued by sending them by
normal post. Service of such documents is deemed, by the Court, to
have been made unless the contrary can be proven. As such, proof of
posting is accepted as proof of delivery.
If a person summonsed fails to appear following the issue of a
summons, service of their summons may be proven on oath to the
Court.
The reasoning behind applying to a
Magistrate to obtain a Council Tax liability order is that it
permits a Local Authority to carry out further recovery proceedings
on the debt specified in the order. These include:
- the issue of a financial details request (liability order
questionnaire);
- to make an attachment of earnings order;
- to apply to the Benefits Agency for deductions to be made from
Income support/Job Seekers Allowance;
- for the Council's bailiffs to levy distress against the debtors
goods;
- to apply for a charging order against a dwelling;
- to apply to bankrupt the debtor.
It is then up to the Council to
decide which is the most appropriate form of recovery action to
undertake, if a payment arrangement has not been accepted.
Even when an arrangement has been
discussed, the Council will still apply to obtain a liability
order, but will not execute the order other than by issuing a
Liability Order Questionnaire. Please note that confirmation of any
payment arrangement will be dependent upon the return of the duly
completed Liability Order Questionnaire.
Where no arrangement has been agreed, the liability order will
normally be passed over to the Council's certificated bailiffs for
collection without delay.
The Bailiff will visit the property and is empowered to seize
and sell goods if necessary.
Should enforcement reach this stage, the Council will not
intervene in any action taken by the bailiff to enforce payment
unless the circumstances are exceptional.
For more information about the enforcement of the liability
order please click
here.
If you disagree with the decision made by the Magistrates’
Court to grant the liability order you can ask for a case to be
stated for an opinion from the High Court. This must be done within
21 days of the magistrates’ decision, and certain other
restrictions apply. An application must be made in writing to the
Clerk of the Magistrate’s Court, detailing who is making the claim,
on what basis i.e. a question of law or jurisdiction and the
questions they wish to raise.
Please note, however, that the Magistrates may refuse an
application if they deem the request to be frivolous, unless it is
made by or under instruction of the Attorney General.
Costs:
Currently the cost for the issue of
a summons is £75.00 and the cost of applying for a liability order
is a further £38.00.
What are these costs for?
These are payable to cover the Council's additional
expenses which occur as a result of the extra work involved in
issuing the summons and attending the court. It would not be fair
to burden Council Taxpayers who pay on time with this extra
administrative cost.
We are committed to ensuring that Council Tax bills are kept
as low as possible. Prompt collection means the Council has to
spend less on sending reminders and final notices and if the cash
is collected promptly the Council benefits from improved cash
flow.
Everyone has to pay the cost of tax arrears and we are trying
to keep the cost down.
This Council consistently achieves an in year collection rate
of over 98% and the recovery of any outstanding debts is vigorously
pursued in subsequent years.
Contact us:
If you require any further information about Council Tax
non-payment, recovery or enforcement, please contact us on (01748)
828728, or alternatively you can e-mail us at
mailto:local.taxation@richmondshire.gov.uk
Pages in this section
- Enforcing the Council Tax Liability Order
- Once a liability order has been granted we are given extra powers to recover the outstanding debt.
Print page