Non-payment of Council Tax

We understand that you may have problems paying your Council Tax bill and we are committed to assisting you to manage payment of your account.

If you encounter any difficulties paying your Council Tax bill, please contact us as soon as possible. We will try to help you to resolve these problems and we promise that any conversation you have with us about your personal financial circumstances will be completely confidential.

Unpaid Council Tax Bills

If an instalment is not paid on or before its due date, we may issue you with a reminder notice. An individual reminder-notice will be issued to each person liable and will state:

• the overdue amount - the instalments which you have not paid
• the date by which the overdue amount must be paid in full - seven days after its issue date
• the account balance  - the amount which will become due if you do not pay the overdue amount on time
• the date by which the account balance must be paid in full - 14 days after its issue date

We may issue two reminder notices to you in any financial year, i.e. if you receive a reminder for missed instalments and pay the instalment arrears by the due date, then miss another instalment, you will be issued a second reminder. If you make payment of your instalment arrears in accordance with reminders issued to you and you fall into arrears with payment of your instalments for a third time, we will send you a final notice.  We will also issue a final notice if you fail to pay a bill payable in one instalment.  A final notice is payable in full within fourteen days of its date of issue.

Further action we can take

If the outstanding amount on the reminder notice or final notice is not paid, we may take further action. It is only a last resort that we employ enforcement measures, but if you fail to pay a reminder notice or a final notice issued to you and fail to contact us to discuss payment, we may apply to the Sheriff Court for a Summary Warrant.  We do not need to contact you when applying for it. 

If the sheriff is satisfied with our application, and grants us a warrant, a surcharge of 10% of your outstanding balance will be added to your account and the debt will be passed to the Sheriff Officers for collection.

Sheriff Officer Action

We use the firm of Sheriff Officers, Scott & Co. They will request you to either pay the amount due in full or make contact with them to make a payment arrangement.  Once an account has been passed to Scott & Co, all contact regarding the debt must be made to them.

Contact details for Scott & Co:

Telephone: 0131 477 8912    Email: aberdeen@scottandco.uk.com
 

If you do not respond to the letters that Scott & Co have sent to you, the grant of a summary warrant gives them the authority to undertake the following courses of action::

• Arrestment of your bank account
• Arrestment of your wages
• Sequestration (bankruptcy)
• Attachment (legal seizure) of your moveable goods, with the option of selling these at public auction (note - this will require authorisation by a Sheriff)

If Scott & Co take any of these enforcement measures against your account, you will incur additional fees.

Deductions from Benefits

If you are in receipt of certain benefits, we may apply to the Department of Work and Pensions for deductions to be made from your benefits, to pay your Council Tax arrears. An application may be made after a summary warrant is granted against you or it may be made under the Water Direct Scheme once you have failed to make payment of a reminder notice.

Money Advice Moray

Our Money Advice Moray can also advise you on how to get your debts back under control. Our advice is FREE and CONFIDENTIAL. To arrange an appointment or for online and telephone service information please contact 0300 1234563. Further information on the Moray Advice Moray can be found here. You can also view a poster detailing useful money related telephone numbers by clicking here.