Unable to Meet Business Rates Payments - Council Not Negotiating

[Draugen]

Just wondering if anyone here has any advice or experience in dealing with their local council regarding negotiating business rates payments.

I presently owe several thousand Pounds in rates, which I had previously agreed to pay in monthly installments of just under £1000. Unfortunately, we are now unable to raise the cash to pay the installments and need them reduced. The council have refused to budge and have now begun baliff proceedings against us.

I genuinely want to get the debt paid, but the council will not accept any offers to repay in smaller installments. If baliffs do turn up, this will put me out of business and lose a lot of people their jobs, I have explained this to the council but they still will not budge.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[deniser]

I was told by Kent County Council yesterday that they would offer a payment holiday for business rates for businesses in difficulty if this helps tide them through a bad patch.

Whereabouts are you?

[CKG]

A business owner I know has just been bankrupted by the council over a rates dispute.

Not what you want to hear I know. But seek pro advice asap. FSB legal helpline or an IP maybe?

[MartCactus]

I presently owe several thousand Pounds in rates, which I had previously agreed to pay in monthly installments of just under £1000. Unfortunately, we are now unable to raise the cash to pay the installments and need them reduced. The council have refused to budge and have now begun baliff proceedings against us.

I genuinely want to get the debt paid, but the council will not accept any offers to repay in smaller installments. If baliffs do turn up, this will put me out of business and lose a lot of people their jobs, I have explained this to the council but they still will not budge.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

My suggestion would be that you sound like you are trading whilst insolvent. Potentially that is illegal. You should consider winding the business up if you cannot pay your bills.

You can't really blame the council for refusing to accept smaller payments - you've already said that they agreed to installments previously, and you've failed to keep them up.

I don't like paying business rates either, but in the end its a relatively small part of any businesses costs. The fact that you are having problems paying rates to me suggests that you've got a somewhat larger problem - that the businesses costs are exceeding its income. You talk of "lots of people losing their jobs". If your business is turning down, have you considered that you might have to reduce staff levels - ie get rid of some staff to avoid everyone losing their jobs.

I don't wish to appear unsympathetic, its just that I think its a bit "head in the sand" to suggest that the business is going to fail just because the council isn't letting you pay rates arrears in installments. The arrears are only there because you have larger problems - its these you need to deal with urgently if you wish to save the business.

[cycloneuk]

The council will hardly be bothered if people lose their jobs, all they care about is getting the money owed, and if that means sending the baliffs in then they will, but it is usually a last resort.

[MikeD08]

Have you tried using a commercial surveyors to work on your behalf for a rate reduction? I know they got a bad press a few years with a company in Manchester scamming 1000s of businesses but the majority are reliable and professional.

I could suggest 2 to you - one works on a 50/50 of the annual savings with no upfront payments and the other asks for a starting fee of around £100.00 plus a final fee based on the final reductions. PM me if you want the details (or I could post here - would that be ok?)