What to do if you get a summons or liability order for your council tax

If you have received a summons, full payment is needed to clear the balance before the court date, including any extra costs.

If you do not make a full payment, we will ask Cardiff Magistrates Court to issue a Liability Order for the non-payment.

If the Liability Order is granted, we can take further steps to recover outstanding balances.

If you are unable to pay the balance in full, please contact us as soon as possible to arrange payment.

Our contact information is on your summons or Liability Order, or you can visit your local Hub.

If you do not make a full payment or arrange repayments with us, we will issue a Notice of Enforcement and take recovery action.

You will need to make full payment of the balance and any additional fees within 14 days of the date on the notice.

We will still consider a payment arrangement at this point.

If you still have not contacted us, we will continue recovery action at possible further costs.

Enforcement fees
Fees	Reason for fees being added
£79	You will be charged this fee if a Notice of Enforcement has been issued or if you fail to make payment and it is necessary for your debt to be passed to Enforcement Agents.
£247	You will be charged if an Enforcement Agents has to visit you at your property. If the debt is more than £1,900.00 you will be charged a further 7.5%.
£116	You will be charged this fee if an Enforcement Agents has to remove goods from your property and sell them at auction. If the debt is more than £1,900.00 you will be charged a further 7.5%.

Further recovery actions

Further recovery actions include:

Attachment of Earnings Order. This is when we take payments from your salary, through your employer.
Attachment of Benefit. This is when we take payments from your benefits, through DWP.
Use of Enforcement Agents. This is when we work with enforcement agents to recover goods to the value of the debt.
Charging Order. If you are a homeowner, we can apply for a Charging Order from the County Court which means that you cannot sell your property until the Council Tax has been paid. This can also result in a forced sale of the property.
An application to the High Court to declare you bankrupt.

You can avoid recovery action by getting in touch with us as soon as possible.