What it means if you receive a Council Tax final notice and/or arrangement default notice
Final notice
A final notice is issued if you miss at least two instalments within the same billing year, or you owe an amount for a previous billing year.
If you receive a final notice, you have lost the right to pay by monthly instalments and you must pay the full amount within seven days.
View an example final notice letter
Arrangement default
An arrangement default notice is issued if you miss at least two instalments of your payment arrangement. You must pay the full amount immediately, or your account will be moved to the next recovery stage.
View an example arrangement default letter
Ways you can pay
At this stage of the recovery process, you have lost the right to pay by monthly instalments.
Make payments to clear or reduce the amount owed
If the debt is for the current billing year, you can pay the full amount owed. Alternatively, if you cannot pay the full amount, you should pay as much as you can.
This does not stop further recovery action and a court summons may be issued after a further seven days. A summons adds more costs to the amount owed.
Set up a payment plan
To stop a court summons being issued, you must pay the amount owed, or request a repayment arrangement which sets up regular payment instalments.
Contact us
The quickest way to contact us is by using our online form which are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.