Civil Enforcement Action
The Council can employ Civil Enforcement Agents to recover the debt. The charges involved are quite considerable and you will be liable for them.
You will be advised in writing if the Council is considering referring your debt to the Civil Enforcement Agents and you will be given the opportunity to make an offer of payment. If you do not do so, or the offer is unacceptable, the debt will be referred.
If you are unable to pay the outstanding debt in full the Civil Enforcement Agent has several options:
They can agree a 'Controlled Goods Agreement' agreement with you. Your goods will be listed but would not be removed so long as you meet the payment arrangements agreed with the Civil Enforcement Agent
They can take 'close possession' of your goods by staying on the premises until payment is made or the goods are removed for sale
They can remove the goods with a view to their sale. The goods would be sold at auction and may not fetch a high price. In which case action can continue to recover any balance outstanding.
It is also possible to make arrangements with the Civil Enforcement Agent however the number of instalments available for repayment will be low. Once a debt has been referred to the Civil Enforcement Agents the Council will not usually intervene with regard to arrangements and the Civil Enforcement Agent should be contacted direct.