Collecting unpaid council tax

Bury Council is committed to collecting the council tax to ensure that the money is used for the benefit of all residents of the borough.

If you are having difficulty making a payment, contact us immediately and explain the situation. The longer you ignore a debt problem, the worse the situation becomes. Our contact details are at the top right hand corner of this page.

Reminder notices

Failure to pay on the due date may result in a reminder notice being issued. The reminder notice will request payment within 7 days.

If payment is not made within 7 days your right to pay by instalments is cancelled and the full outstanding balance becomes due.

A maximum of 2 reminder notices are issued within a financial year.

Final notices

If you fall behind on a 3rd occasion this will result in a final notice being sent to you. This cancels your right to pay by instalments and requests payment of the full outstanding balance within 7 days.

Summonses and liability orders

Failure to make payment in full may result in a summons being issued to you incurring £80.00 costs. We will ask the Magistrates Court for a liability order, which is a demand for you to pay the full amount of council tax plus costs.

Once the court has made a Liability Order against you the Council can take enforcement action to recover the debt. This usually means either deductions from wages or benefits, or the use of bailiffs.

We will always try to come to a reasonable repayment arrangement with you, but we can only do this if you contact us.

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