If you cannot pay your business rates, you should contact us immediately. We may be able to help by amending your monthly payments. If you are late in paying we will send a reminder notice. We only send one reminder before sending you a summons to appear at the magistrates court. You will be charged costs for this. These are currently £75.
If the court decides that you must pay your business rates they will issue a liability order. This entitles us to collect the money due by:
- Calling in the bailiffs to recover the debt. They will remove and sell some of your possessions. You will have to pay their fees
- Starting insolvency proceedings through the county court
- Applying to the county court for a charging order. This means we will be able to force the sale of your property and recover the money from the proceeds of the sale. You will also have to pay extra charges
If you continue not to pay we can return to court. The court may decide to send you to prison, order you to pay or tell us to write off part or all of the debt.