Being chased for Business rates that are not mine.

CIS

pelirocco wrote: »

Council tax arrears are normally dealt with by court appointed bailiffs.

Court bailiffs do not collect council tax or business rates arrears except in rare cases - the enforcement agents are appointed by the council after the liability order is granted as the relevant legislation allows the council to directly appoint the agents*. The process for Council Tax and NNDR are very similar as Council Tax was based on the system already in place for NNDR.

*NNDR technically allows a CCJ route to be used but it's very unusual as it's far more expensive and gives the council far less say in the recovery options available. It would be a court bailiff in this particular case.

CIS

NeilCr wrote: »

I have to say that over my years volunteering at CAB I have seen quite a few cases where some letters were received and others not. Various reasons - not sent - recipient moved - recipient didn’t realise what it was - recipient threw it away - lost in post etc etc.

It is unusual, though, for an enforcement agent to be instructed by a council if there hasn’t been a court hearing. That’s confirmed in the process outlined in the Business Debtline fact sheet.

The council cannot instruct an enforcement agent for council tax or NNDR until there has been a liability order granted - they could instruct a debt collector bit there's not really any point in that. NNDR technically allows a CCJ route to be used but it's very unusual as it's more expensive and gives the council far less say in the recovery.

Whether a person is aware the liability order hearing has taken place or not is another matter (best reason I know of is a duck eating the paperwork - it actually happened). Whether or not there is a valid argument in the non-receipt is yet another layer to be unravelled.

NeilCr

CIS wrote: »

The council cannot instruct an enforcement agent for council tax or NNDR until there has been a liability order granted - they could instruct a debt collector bit there's not really any point in that. NNDR technically allows a CCJ route to be used but it's very unusual as it's more expensive and gives the council far less say in the recovery.

Whether a person is aware the liability order hearing has taken place or not is another matter (best reason I know of is a duck eating the paperwork - it actually happened). Whether or not there is a valid argument in the non-receipt is yet another layer to be unravelled.

Thanks for clarifying CIS.

:beer::beer:

I was hedging my bets. I was pretty sure they couldn’t (instruct an enforcement agent without a liability order) but as we don’t usually deal with business rates I didn’t know if there was a wrinkle out there that I wasn’t aware of.

I’ve heard some pretty interesting reasons for not receiving court papers myself - but, I can’t beat the duck!

CIS

NeilCr wrote: »

Thanks for clarifying CIS.

:beer::beer:

I was hedging my bets. I was pretty sure they couldn’t (instruct an enforcement agent without a liability order) but as we don’t usually deal with business rates I didn’t know if there was a wrinkle out there that I wasn’t aware of.

I’ve heard some pretty interesting reasons for not receiving court papers myself - but, I can’t beat the duck!

He told one of my colleagues the letter he'd received 'wasn't a court summons'. The response to this was 'so you did receive a letter then, you said you'd not received anything'. The man then replied 'ok, I got it but I fed it to my ducks'. It turned out he kept ducks and threw letters he didn't like in to their pen for them to have !

For NNDR they could use a CCJ - recovery is allowed via a 'court of competent jurisdiction' but technically any enforcement agents appointed that way are by the court, rather than the council. If the council use the liability order route they keep full control and appoint the enforcement agents without having to apply back to the court and pay extra, as would be the case with a CCJ. It's so much easier to recover monies without a judge having to get involved.