Can the council put a charging order on my home for Council Tax?

A council tax liability order can, in defined circumstances, be enforced by an application for a charging order over the debtor's interest in a relevant dwelling. This is a court process; a bailiff cannot simply create a charge over your home at the doorstep.^[1]

Regulation 50 permits the billing authority to apply where the aggregate amount outstanding under one or more liability orders is more than £1,000 and the other statutory conditions are satisfied.^[1]

The application is governed by Civil Procedure Rule Part 73. The court procedure includes an interim stage and an opportunity for the debtor and affected persons to respond before a final charging order is made.^[2]

A charging order secures the debt against the property interest. It does not itself amount to an immediate order requiring the property to be sold. Any attempt to force a sale is a separate and serious step requiring its own legal basis and court process.

If you receive charging-order papers, check the liability-order references, the amount said to be outstanding, your legal and beneficial interest in the property, payments already made and whether the statutory threshold is met. Do not ignore the hearing or response deadline.

If the underlying liability is genuinely disputed, pursue the council tax liability issue at the same time. A charging-order application is not the forum for pretending that an incorrect council tax account is correct merely because a liability order exists.

^{[1] Regulation 50 of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
[2] Civil Procedure Rule Part 73, especially rules 73.1-73.10}