Difficulty paying business rates

If you are having difficulty paying your business rates, contact us straight away. We will do our best to help you. 

You can contact us by phone on 01590 646119 or by email to nndr@nfdc.gov.uk

Helping you pay business rates

To prevent any problems, you should ensure you pay your business rates on time.  If you begin to have difficulty with payments, we can offer options that could help you. 

• you can spread your payments over 12 months rather than over 10 months, resulting in smaller monthly payments
• you may be entitled to a reduction
• we can signpost you to debt advice and support with the cost of living

Not paying your business rates

If you do not pay your business rates, we will take the following measures:

Send a reminder

If you miss a business rates instalment, you will get a reminder notice that gives you seven days to bring your payments up to date. 

If you do not pay within this time, the full amount of business rates becomes due after a further 7 days.

It is important that you do not ignore the reminder notice. If we have to continue with recovery, you may have to pay extra costs.

Send a court summons

If payment is not received, or an acceptable payment arrangement is not agreed with us within 14 days of the full amount being due, we will send a Magistrate Court summons. You do not need to attend court.

Costs of £40 will be added to your account.

If you disagree with the summons, contact us straight away by calling 01590 646119 or by email to nndr@nfdc.gov.uk

Apply for a liability order

If you do not pay the full amount including the court costs, or make a payment arrangement with us, we will make an application for a liability order to the Magistrate Court.

A liability order enables us to recover the debt from you by:

• passing your debt to an enforcement agent, which will incur costs
• commencing bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings, which will incur costs

Costs of £30 will be added to your account.

After the hearing, you will get a notice requesting information about your circumstances. You can make an arrangement with us to pay your arrears.

Use of enforcement agents

An enforcement agent could be instructed to collect a debt. If instructed, extra costs will be added to the amount you owe. 

These fees are as follows:

£75 on each liability order as soon as the enforcement agent receives your case. You will have the opportunity to make a payment arrangement with the enforcement agent at this stage, and avoid further costs. Do not ignore their first letter. Contact them straight away.

£235 (plus 7.5% if your debt is over £1,500) if you fail to pay or make an arrangement.

£110 (plus 7.5% if your debt is over £1,500) if the enforcement agent visits you with the purpose of removing and selling goods.

The enforcement agent may make a list of your goods, but as long as you agree to pay the debt, they will only remove the goods if you do not keep to the arrangement.