You should contact us straight away if you are unable to pay your Business Rates or if you think your bill is wrong. We will check whether you are receiving all the reductions you are entitled to, and we may be able to agree a payment arrangement.

Failure to pay

If you miss an instalment you will get a reminder notice giving you seven days to bring your payments up to date.

If you make this payment but miss another instalment you will receive a final notice telling you to pay the full balance for the year.

We will start recovery action if you do not make the payment requested in your reminder.

Recovery action

We can apply to the magistrates’ court for a liability order. The court will send you a summons telling you the amount outstanding; including costs and the date the court will make a decision.

You have the right to attend court and give evidence if you feel you should not have to pay this amount.

Powers a liability order gives us

After being granted a liability order we can use bailiffs to collect any money owed. You will have to pay extra charges if we use bailiffs to collect money from you.

The bailiffs may attempt to remove your goods, which will then be sold to help pay your outstanding debt. There will be further bailiff’s costs for you to pay if this happens.