How we deal with missed payments
Pink reminder
We will send you a pink, or official, reminder if you have missed a payment. You must pay the amount shown on the reminder within seven days.
If you don't pay within seven days, you could be summoned to court for the balance of the year's council tax.
We will only send you a maximum of two official pink reminders in any one financial year.
If you keep missing payments you will lose your right to pay by monthly instalments and will have to pay the balance of the year's council tax.
Blue final notice
We will send a final notice for a variety of reasons. Usually it will be because you keep missing payments and have already had two official pink reminders.
In this case, the final notice will be for the balance of the year's council tax. It could also be because you have moved house without clearing the council tax due on your old address.
The final notice will tell you how much council tax is outstanding. You need to pay this in full within seven days. If you don't, you could be summonsed to court.
Summons
If you do not respond to reminders or a final notice, we can start court proceedings. If we do, you will be sent a summons, telling you to appear in court on a given date.
The only way to avoid the matter going to court is to pay the outstanding council tax in full. You will also have to pay additional costs.
If you do not pay, we will ask the court to grant a 'liability order'. This will give us the power to take further steps to recover the outstanding council tax.
These could include sending enforcement agents to your home, taking the outstanding council tax straight from your pay, or making deductions from your benefits.
Further information
- advice from Shelter
- Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council's corporate debt recovery policy