Methods of Recovery
Bailiff Visit
We may decide to send a bailiff to your
business. The bailiff will either accept payment in full from you,
make a payment arrangement or value the goods in your premises. If
he believes that your goods could be sold at auction to pay of the
debt in full, he may decide to levy distress. Usually, goods sold
at auction will not realise the amount of money you may have paid
for them. There will be additional costs involved with this process
including the auctioneer’s fees. The charges that can be added to
your debt in connection with action taken by the bailiff are set
out in regulations as shown here.
Bankruptcy
If you owe more than £750 and a bailiff has
previously visited your business it is now likely that you will be
served with a Statutory Demand. This document should not be
ignored, as it will lead to a bankruptcy petition and considerable
costs. Your assets are at immediate risk if this happens.
To avoid bankruptcy you should contact the
Recovery Service on (01233 331111). Please note that a bailiff does
not need to attend your property before this action can be
taken.
Please see The Insolvency Service website
for more information.
Committal To Prison
We will try to recover the outstanding debt by
any of the means available to us but if we do not do so, we may
decide to summons you to the Magistrates Court for a second
time.
This time, we will ask the Magistrates to commit
you to prison for non-payment. The magistrates will decide if you
have deliberately refused to pay or been neglectful in not paying
and may send you to prison for up to 3 months.
Please Remember
If you receive any notice from the
Borough Council regarding the non-payment of your Business Rates,
please do not ignore it as doing this may mean that further action
will be taken with additional costs being incurred.
This webpage was updated on
12/29/2011