Unpaid Business Rates

Liability order

If you do not pay the full amount due on your summons, we will request a liability order at the Court hearing. This will incur a further £35 in costs which will be added to your bill.

After the court hearing, we will send you a 14 day arrangement letter offering you instalments to clear the balance outstanding. After 14 days, the debt will be passed to one of our enforcement agents for collection. The notice will also advise of the additional costs that will be incurred if this happens.

The liability order gives the Council powers to recover the outstanding debt using the methods listed below:

We can instruct an enforcement agent to collect an outstanding Business Rates debt from you if a liability order has been granted. An enforcement agent will visit your premises to take control of goods to sell. The purpose of this is to raise money which will go towards paying your Business Rates arrears including the recovery costs.

Before visiting you, the enforcement agent will send you a letter which will state how much you owe. You can contact the enforcement agent to agree a payment arrangement and it is important to do this once you receive your letter to minimise further enforcement agent fees.

Runnymede Borough Council employs the following enforcement agents:

Additional fees payable when the debt is passed to an enforcement agent are:

  • Compliance stage (from date of receipt of instruction by enforcement agent until before first visit) - £75
  • Enforcement stage (from date of first visit) - £235 (plus 7.5% of amount above £1,500, if the debt is above £1,500)
  • Sale stage - £110 (plus 7.5% of amount above £1,500, if the debt is above £1,500)

We could begin bankruptcy proceedings if you don’t pay the money you owe.

We could begin insolvency proceedings if you don’t pay the money you owe.

Alternatively to bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings, you can be sent to prison for up to 90 days if a further court hearing finds you have not paid the business rates due to wilful refusal or culpable neglect.

Get in touch about Business Rates arrears

If you are struggling to keep on top of your Business Rates payments please contact us as we could offer options that can help your circumstances.

Pay Business Rates

You can use our online form to make a Business Rates payment using a debit or credit card.

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