Under the Local Government Act 1989 councils must allow you to pay either quarterly instalments or a lump sum payment. However, a council may penalise you for paying your rates late. This penalty is in the form of an extra charge based on a stated rate of interest (set under the Penalty Interest Rate Act 1983) plus any other costs incurred in getting payment from you. If you fail to pay any rates, charges and interest the council may sue you for the debt in the Magistrates' Court and ultimately any unpaid debt is a first charge on the land when it is sold. However, where you can show hardship, councils usually try to negotiate payments by instalment.

Under the Local Government Act, councils may sell your land if your rates and charges are more than three years overdue and you have no current arrangement to make payments. If you buy land where land rates and charges have not been paid the local council will have the right to demand that you pay the outstanding debt.