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.
If the bailiff decides that your belongings are
insufficient to pay off your debt when sold, he will serve a notice
on you informing you of this.
If the bailiff calls and you are not at home or
at your business address, he will leave a letter with the contact
details. You should either pay your bill in full including the
costs or contact the bailiff to discuss a payment arrangement.
Each time a bailiff visits you, it will incur more costs.
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.
Charging Order
If you own your home, we may decide to place a
charging order on your property. The charging order means that we
will receive the money owed to it from the sale of your home. In
certain circumstances a forced sale of the property will be
appropriate in order that the debt is satisfied.
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.
If you do not appear at the Magistrates Court for
this hearing we will obtain a warrant for your arrest. The cost of
this will be added to your account.
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
3/31/2008