If you do not pay your business rates/BID levy overview

If you fall behind with payments, this will start the recovery process. Please get in touch with us if you are having difficulty paying.

For BID accounts, the amount is payable in one instalment. The recovery process however is similar to business rates.

Reminder

If you are behind with your payments, we will post a reminder to you. If you arrange to pay the outstanding balance and keep up to date with further payments, we will not take any further action.

If you do not bring the account up to date, or if it is brought up to date but you fail to pay a later payment on time, then we will post a final reminder to you.

Final notice

If you have not brought your account up to date or if you miss a later payment, we will issue a final notice.

The final notice means you have lost the right to pay by instalments and you must pay the balance in full within 7 days. If you do not pay your account in full within 7 days of the final notice being issued, then we will apply for a court summons and you are responsible for any extra costs.

Court summons

If you receive a court summons, this means that we have applied to the magistrates’ court for the legal power to take further action against you to recover unpaid Business Rates/BID levy. At the hearing we will ask the court to grant us a liability order. This will allow us to recover your debt in a variety of ways.

What we can do after a court hearing

If you do not pay in full, a liability order gives us the power to:

• use enforcement agents to collect the debt
• apply for your bankruptcy/liquidation