The Recovery Process
Reminders are sent addressed to all liable persons named on the
bill. Please note that the Council does not have to send you a
reminder each time you miss an instalment, as the law only requires
us to send a maximum of one reminder in any financial year.
· Reminder
If after receiving the Reminder the overdue amount is paid by
the date specified in the reminder, the liable person may continue
to pay by monthly instalments.
If the overdue amount isn't paid by the date specified the next
stage is to issue a Summons to Court.
· Final Notice
A Final Notice explains to the liable person that they have lost
the right to pay by instalments and that the balance for the
financial year should now be paid in full. If the full amount is
not paid within seven days, the liable person will be sent a
summons. We may, however, be willing to suspend the final notice
and reinstate your instalments if you contact the Council to
arrange to bring your account up to date and set up a Direct Debit
instruction for future instalments.
Summons
At this stage the Council has decided to take
recovery action against the liable person(s) to ensure that the
Business Rates are paid in full.
A complaint is made to the Magistrates Court
which allows a Summons to be issued with the authority of the
Court, which gives the liable person(s) at least 14 days notice of
the date of the Court hearing. The Summons explains to the liable
person(s) that the Council intend to ask the Magistrates to grant a
Liability Order for the amount of Business Rates outstanding plus
the costs incurred (the amount of the costs is agreed beforehand by
the Magistrates and the Council).
The liable person(s) does
not have to attend Court.
You are only required to attend if you wish to dispute the
granting of the Liability Order. Please note the
Magistrates will not consider any proposals for payment. The
purpose of the Hearing is to consider the actual liability for
payment of the Rates. The Court cannot consider your
financial circumstances, your reasons for not paying or disputes
about the Rateable Value of your premises. If you choose not to
attend, the hearing will continue in your absence and your case
will be dealt with in accordance to law. If you feel you have
a valid dispute against the issue of a Liability Order please
contact a Business Rates Officer before the Hearing date. If
payment of the full amount including costs is made before the day
of the Court hearing, the application for a Liability Order will
not proceed.
When a Summons is sent we include some
explanatory notes as shown
here.
This webpage was updated on
12/29/2011