Behind on Council Tax or Rent? What to Do Right Now

Quick summary: Missing a council tax or rent payment doesn't have to spiral, but it moves fast if you ignore it. Contact your council or landlord straight away, before they contact you. Both council tax and rent arrears are "priority debts", meaning they carry more serious consequences than things like credit cards, so they need dealing with first. Below is exactly what happens at each stage, and the real options for getting ahead of it.

Council tax: the timeline

If you miss a payment, here's roughly what follows if nothing is done:

1. About 2 weeks later, the council sends a reminder. Pay within 7 days and that's the end of it, you carry on as before.

2. If you don't pay within 7 days (or it's your third late payment that year), you get a final notice demanding the full year's council tax within 7 days.

3. If that's not paid, the council applies to the courts for a liability order, giving them formal power to collect the debt.

4. With a liability order, the council can send bailiffs, take a fixed amount from your wages (an "attachment of earnings"), take money from benefits like Universal Credit, or, for debts over £5,000, apply to make you bankrupt.

In genuinely rare cases, deliberately refusing to pay when bailiffs have already failed to recover the debt can lead to up to 3 months in prison, but this is only where a court decides the non-payment is wilful, not simply that you couldn't afford it.

Rent arrears: what's at stake

Missing rent puts you at risk of eviction, but paying back even part of what you owe, and doing it as soon as possible, genuinely helps your position if it ever reaches court. Before anything else:

Check you're actually responsible for the full amount. If you have a joint tenancy, arrears are usually shared. If you took over someone else's tenancy, you're not responsible for arrears from before your tenancy started.
Check what you've actually paid, against bank statements or a rent book, in case the figure your landlord is quoting is wrong.

The single most useful thing to do: contact them first

Whether it's the council or a landlord, don't wait to be chased. Explain your situation and ask about a payment plan, paying a bit extra on top of your normal payments until the arrears clear. Neither has to agree, but showing you're taking it seriously and offering what you can genuinely afford puts you in a far stronger position than silence.

Options worth knowing about

A repayment plan. Both councils and landlords can agree to spread arrears over several months on top of your normal payments. Don't offer more than you can realistically sustain.

Breathing Space. If you need time to get proper debt advice before deciding what to do, the government's Breathing Space scheme gives up to 60 days of protection, no contact from creditors, no added interest or charges, and enforcement action paused, while you work with a debt adviser. It covers council tax and rent arrears among other debts. You can't get it yourself, a debt adviser applies on your behalf, and it's free.

Apply for Breathing Space, GOV.UK

Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP). If you get Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit and it doesn't fully cover your rent, you can ask your council for a DHP, extra money towards rent that you don't have to pay back.

Paying arrears from your benefits. If you owe at least 8 weeks' rent and get Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, JSA, ESA, Income Support or Pension Credit, you can ask DWP to pay some of your rent arrears directly to your landlord out of your benefit, which can also help reassure the landlord.

Council Tax Reduction. If you're on a low income, check whether you qualify for a reduced council tax bill, this is worth doing before arrears build up further, not just after.

Charitable grants. Turn2us runs a free search tool matching you to grants based on your postcode and circumstances, some cover housing costs specifically.

Search for a charitable grant, Turn2us

Getting proper advice

Citizens Advice has detailed, step-by-step guidance for both situations, worth reading in full if you want to understand exactly where you stand:

Dealing with Council Tax arrears, Citizens Advice

Dealing with rent arrears, Citizens Advice

You can also find your council's contact details to start a conversation today:

Find your local council, GOV.UK

If bailiffs are already involved

If it's got as far as a bailiff visit, or a letter warning you one is coming, see our guide to exactly what they can and can't do: Dealing With Bailiffs: Your Rights, Explained.

Worth checking alongside this

If money is generally tight rather than just this one bill, your council may be able to help through the Crisis and Resilience Fund: Struggling With Bills or Food? Here's How to Get Council Crisis Help. And it's always worth confirming you're not missing wider entitlements: Am I Missing Out? The Free Ten-Minute Benefits Check.

If you need food help today

Debt worries and food worries often arrive together. If you need food right now, search for a food bank near you by postcode or town, or work through our full first-48-hours guide: No Money for Food? What to Do Right Now.

Frequently asked questions

Can I really go to prison for council tax debt?

Only in rare cases, and only where a court finds you deliberately refused to pay while genuinely able to, and bailiffs have already failed to recover the money. Struggling to pay is not the same as refusing to pay.

What's a liability order?

It's a court order giving your council formal legal power to collect council tax debt, through bailiffs, wage deductions, benefit deductions, or in serious cases bankruptcy or a charge against your home.

Will Breathing Space stop deductions already being taken from my Universal Credit?

No. If your council is already taking money directly from your Universal Credit for council tax debt, that continues even during Breathing Space.

How do I get a debt adviser to apply for Breathing Space?

Contact a free debt advice service such as Citizens Advice, National Debtline or StepChange, they'll assess whether it's right for you and submit the application if so.

Is a Discretionary Housing Payment a loan?

No, it's a grant. You don't have to pay it back, but your council decides case by case whether to award it, and funding is limited.

I'm behind on both rent and council tax, which do I deal with first?

Both are priority debts and matter more than things like credit cards, but speak to both your landlord and your council as soon as possible rather than choosing between them, since each may offer different kinds of help.