Skip to main content
North Yorkshire Council

Breadcrumbs

  1. Home
  2. Council Tax
  3. Council Tax recovery
  4. Council Tax liability orders

Council Tax liability orders

A liability order lets us take money direct from certain benefits or your wages.

If the Magistrates Court grant a liability order, we will write to you to let you know.

You will need to contact us immediately to either:

  • pay your Council Tax debt in full, including all costs
  • using the payment proposal form to suggest a payment plan

If you do not contact us we will take enforcement action to recover your Council Tax debt in full.

We can still help you at this stage - contact us to discuss your debt.

The liability order gives us the right to recover the debt by enforcement through various methods such as -

  • attachment of earnings or benefits
  • enforcement agent action 
  • bankruptcy proceedings - this is a very serious matter and you could lose your assets, including your home 
  • A charging order may be obtained. This means that if you sell your property in the future the arrears are paid from the proceeds of the sale 
  • committal to prison. Failure to maintain payments could ultimately result in a prison sentence. If you do not appear in court, the magistrates issue a warrant for your arrest with bail

 Rate this page

How would you rate this page?

Extra links

  • Get in touch
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Terms and conditions
  • GOV.UK

Social media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • More social channels

© 2026 North Yorkshire Council

The council provides services across North Yorkshire including Harrogate, Ripon, Scarborough, Whitby, Northallerton, Thirsk, Selby, Tadcaster, Malton, Pickering, Richmond, Skipton and more.

Digital Assistant
BETA

This is a new service – your feedback will help us to improve it.