Multiple Council Tax liability orders and duplicate bailiff fees

A council may refer more than one council tax liability order against the same debtor to an enforcement company. That does not automatically entitle the enforcement agent to charge a separate enforcement-stage fixed fee for every order on the same attendance.

Regulation 11 applies where the enforcement agent has instructions against the same debtor under more than one enforcement power and those powers can reasonably be exercised at the same time.^[1]

The compliance-stage fee may be recovered for each enforcement power. But where regulation 11 applies, the fixed fee for the enforcement stage and the fixed fee for the sale or disposal stage may each be recovered only once, regardless of the number of enforcement powers.^[2]

The percentage fee, where applicable, is calculated by reference to the total sums to be recovered under the enforcement powers to which regulation 11 applies. The enforcement agent must also, so far as practicable, minimise recoverable disbursements by dealing with the goods together and on as few occasions as possible.^[3]

For a non-High-Court case on the current post-1 May 2026 scale, three qualifying liability orders referred together may therefore carry three compliance fees of £79, but only one £247 enforcement-stage fixed fee for a combined attendance, before any lawful percentage fee or permitted disbursement is considered.^[4]

If you have been charged repeated attendance-stage fees for orders enforced together, ask for a statement itemising every enforcement power, stage, date, fixed fee, percentage fee and disbursement. A dispute about the amount of fees may be determined under Civil Procedure Rule 84.16.^[5]

^{[1] Regulation 11(1)-(2) of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014
[2] Regulation 11(3)-(4) of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014
[3] Regulation 11(4)-(5) of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014
[4] Regulation 3 and the Schedule amendments in the Taking Control of Goods (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026
[5] Civil Procedure Rule 84.16}