Difficulty paying Council Tax

Difficulty paying or late instalments

Payment dates and amounts are shown on your Council Tax bill.

Typically, payments are made in 10 instalments; however, if you prefer to pay in 12 instalments, you must request this in advance. Each instalment must be paid in full on or before the dates specified on your bill. You can also choose to pay weekly, provided each instalment is covered by the due dates.

Late payments

If you do not pay the full instalment by the due date on your bill, you will receive a combined reminder and final notice within 7 days.

If the full amount is not paid within 7 days, you will lose the right to pay by instalments and must pay the entire outstanding balance for the year within a further 14 days.

If you miss more than two instalments, we can issue only two combined reminder and final notices during the financial year. If a third instalment is missed, we must issue a final notice for the full year's Council Tax arrears.

If the amount specified on the final notice is not paid by the deadline, we are legally obliged to apply for a Summary Warrant from the Sheriff Court to recover the debt. This process incurs an additional charge of 10 per cent of the outstanding tax.

Page last modified: 28 August 2025

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