When you do not make an agreed arrangement to pay your Council Tax to us, we will use enforcement agents (formerly known as bailiffs) to recover the debt.
You will be sent a letter, from the enforcement agent, telling you the debt has been passed to them to collect and asking the for full payment at once. If you do not make the payment, notices will be sent and agents will visit your property to remove goods up to the value of what you owe us, including any costs resulting from their action.
Enforcement agents can remove your belongings and put them in secure storage before selling them. They must enter your property through a usual means of entering peacefully. They are not allowed to break down a door or climb through open windows to get into your property. Once inside your property, the agents can use necessary force on any internal locked doors.
If you pay your debt, including costs, before any goods are taken or sold, the seizure or sale will be stopped.
You can also stop enforcement agents taking the goods by signing a ‘taking control of goods agreement’. This is an arrangement to pay the debt over a period of time rather than the balance being paid in full. The agreement means an agent can return to remove goods if the debt is not paid as agreed. You do not have to be there if the enforcement agent returns to remove goods.
If the enforcement agent can’t collect the debt, or there are insufficient goods to remove, the account will be returned to us for further proceedings.
