Liability Order
If on the date of the Hearing the amount has
not been paid in full an officer from the recovery team will attend
the Court to present the Council's case. The Council will have to
prove that all the necessary procedures have been adhered to. It is
normal practice to ask for Liability Orders in bulk, however if an
individual does attend the Court to dispute the evidence he is
allowed to put his case forward. However, if the Magistrates are
satisfied that the taxpayer is liable to pay the charge, that they
haven’t paid the charge and the charge has been demanded in
accordance with the relevant regulations they will grant a
Liability Order and additional costs of £60.00 will be added to the
account.
The Liability Order is for the sole use
of the Council and remains the Council's property.
Soon after the hearing the recovery team will
send out a Notification of Liability Order with a Request for
Information. This informs that unless payment is
made in full within fourteen days the Council will
commence one of the recovery options without further notice.
In accordance with Regulation 36 of the Council Tax (Administration
and Enforcement) Regulations 1992, you are under a duty to supply
relevant information to the Council and to complete the request for
information form and return it to the Council. Failure to
supply the information or to supply false information is a criminal
offence and if found guilty carries a substantial fine.
When the Summons was sent we included some
explanatory
notes.
A Liability Order gives the Council the
authority of the Court to recover monies by the following
methods:
At all stages of recovery liable persons are
encouraged to contact the Council, or its agents, and make an offer
of payment. We may be able to discuss making a short-term
arrangement but we may not accept your offer of payment if it will
take too long to clear the amount owed. The Council can be
fairly flexible in that the arrangements can be weekly,
fortnightly, monthly etc. If the arrangement is accepted by
the recovery team and maintained by the liable person(s) no further
action is required. If a payment arrangement is not
maintained, the Council will take recovery action as
appropriate.
Where the Council are aware that a debtor is
in employment, we can send a maximum of 2 orders at any one time
and you will be issued with a copy of each order. For further
information you can view the HM Court Service Attachment Orders: A
Guide for employers
by clicking here.
Where a Liability Order has been obtained and
a debtor receives certain benefits the Council may apply via the
Department of Work & Pensions for deductions to be made to
secure payment. Deductions can be made from Job Seekers
Allowance, Income Support, Pension Credit or Employment and Support
Allowance. Where the Council receives confirmation that a
deduction from benefits will be made, no other form of recovery
action will be taken against the liable person.
The Council can instruct bailiffs to collect
the Council Tax following the issue of a Liability Order.
Chandlers Ltd and Stanford & Green Ltd are authorised to act on
behalf of Ashford Borough Council.
The bailiff will be visiting to collect the
amount you owe or to take goods to sell at auction. He will charge
you fees for action he has to take. More information is shown
here.
Insolvency
The first stage of this action requires that
the Council serve a statutory demand on the liable person. A formal
petition is then taken before the County Court.
The Council can apply for a charge to be
registered against a property in which a liable person has a
material interest. If a property is sold, the “charge” must be
cleared before any of the money is released to the debtor.
The Council can, in certain circumstances, force the sale of a
property subject to a charging order, to recover monies owed.
There are significant costs involved and a
minimum of £300 will be added to the debt. The court officer will
ask that the Magistrates find that the liable person is guilty of
wilful refusal or culpable neglect in not paying the Council Tax
and that they be given a term of imprisonment for a period of 3
months.
This webpage was updated on
12/29/2011