Council forces home sale to recover tax debt

Gravesham Borough Council is targeting high value council tax debts

A local authority has forced the sale of a property to recover £36,000 it was owed in council tax.

The remaining balance of the sale of the property in Northfleet was handed back to its former owner, Gravesham Borough Council said.

The council said it will now target another 109 high-value debts in its district and hopes to reclaim about £700,000 in unpaid council tax as a result.

Narinderjit Singh Thandi, cabinet member for performance and administration, said: “Forcing the sale of someone’s home is always a last resort."

He said: "In cases where an owner has resisted all other attempts by us to engage with them to recover what is owed, we will pursue this ultimate sanction – it’s only fair on the majority of householders who pay their council tax that we do so."

The authority's legal costs were also covered by the house sale, the council said.

Gravesham says it is also using an online tool to track which households are at risk of falling into poverty, so they can access any financial support that is available.

A council spokesperson said in the past year households had claimed an extra £330,000 in pension credits, £624,000 in household support fund grants, £130,000 in council tax financial support and £248,743 in discretionary energy scheme payments.