Enforcement Agents and Fees

We can instruct an enforcement agent to collect an unpaid Council Tax debt from you if a liability order has been issued in your name and you:

• have not returned a completed income and expenditure form sent to you
• have not made an agreed repayment plan
• have made an agreed repayment plan but not kept to it

Before we pass your Council Tax debt to an enforcement agent we will send you a letter which details:

• the amount outstanding
• your payment options
• an invite to contact us and set up a formal arrangement
• information regarding reduction schemes that you may be entitled to, to help reduce the size of the debt outstanding

Once the enforcement agent has been instructed you will have to deal with them directly.

We currently use Jacobs Enforcement Agents to act on our behalf to collect Council Tax debts once a liability order has been granted by Guildford Magistrates.

Jacobs Enforcement Agency contact details:

• Address: 6 Europa Boulevard, Birkenhead, Wirral, CH41 4PE
• Telephone: 0151 650 4800
• Local rate: 0345 601 2692
• Email: mail@jacobsenforcement.com

Stages that Jacobs will follow

1. Compliance stage

If we pass your unpaid debt to an enforcement agent, you will have to pay a fixed fee of £75 that is legally due. This will apply to each liability order we send them.

The enforcement agent will send you a Notice of Enforcement (this is a statutory letter) and you will have seven days to pay in full. Please respond immediately.

If you are unable to pay in full, the enforcement agent may agree for the debt to be repaid by instalments. Any payments or offers of payment should be made to the enforcement agent and not directly to us.

In addition to the Notice of Enforcement, the enforcement agent may also contact you by email, text, letter or phone. It is important that you do not ignore these as once it goes to the enforcement stage an enforcement agent will visit. You will be at risk of losing your belongings and you will be charged additional costs.

2. Enforcement stage

When an enforcement agent visits, you will have to pay a further fixed fee of £235 plus 7.5% for any balance due over £1,500.

If you pay in full at this stage, you will still have to pay all of the costs. This will be at least £310 (£235 plus £75).

If you are unable to pay in full, the enforcement agent can either take control of your goods or enter into an acceptable agreement for you to repay the money owed – including their costs.

This means they will make a list of your goods that cover the amount of your debt. If your goods are included on a Controlled Goods Agreement you cannot dispose of or sell them without the enforcement agents permission.

There are certain goods that are exempt from being included on a controlled goods agreement. For example:

• items necessary for the basic domestic needs of the debtor and members of the debtor’s household
• items or equipment which are necessary for use personally by the debtor or in the debtors employment, business, trade, study, up to the value of £1,350. Above this then the exemption does not apply.

3. Sale or disposal stage

If you:

• refuse to sign the Controlled Goods Agreement the enforcement agent can take your goods whilst he/she is at your property
• do not pay as agreed and you have signed a Controlled Goods Agreement, the enforcement agent may enter your property, by force if necessary, to take the goods listed

Either way, you will be charged a fixed fee of £110 plus 7.5% of any balance due. You may also have to pay additional costs for the sale of your goods.

If the enforcement agent cannot collect the debt owed to us, the debt will be returned to us to consider other recovery options which may include:

• Bankruptcy
• Committal to prison
• Charging Order against your property