Business Rates for defunct company - WPO

[meekle]

Dear All

I have posted elsewhere but got no answer so i am hoping this is the right place!

I have a NNDR outstanding on a leased property i used for my business. Now the business has ceased trading for the last 2 months, and whilst i dont dispute i owe money to the council, i pointed out that the company was no longer trading and that i wanted to set up a new account for the new company that i am director of.

I even offered to clear the previous debt in installments. The council didnt want to know and sent the bailiff around and he managed to secure a WPO by getting the landlord involved who agreed to open up the property if i didnt.

Anyway, i explained to the bailiff that the old company sold it office fixtures and fittings and PC's etc to the new company and that the entire contents of the office belonged to the new company.

He wouldnt take my word for it and levied on the contents of the office. Can they levy on goods that dont belong to the debtor? The only thing left in the office in the old companies name is the tennacy agreement as i havent got around to changing its name with the landlord.

The new company pays the rent by the way.

Now the bill was for 1800 or thereabouts, once the bailiff came over and he levied a 24.50 van fee, a 20 attendance fee and 400 costs (he waited for around 4 hours for me to get there from a meeting) so i paid him 100 with the WPO, and 500 the next day - but this has entirely been eaten up in charges to the baliff.

What should i do know? The council are only interested in getting the full amount paid, and the bailiff wont talk to me. The first i knew that the bailiff was coming around was when he rang me and told me he was going to gain access to the office.

Also, can he take my desks and office equipment? if he does, then i will have to fold the company as i cant afford to continue trading. This will result in the loss of my job, the part time secretary and the part time worker..............

Time is running out - i have about a week to stump up 1800 and i cant do it. advice please?

[Conniff]

This all depends on if they think you have sold all the assets to this new company to avoid paying what is owed. If they can make a case out for that then they will take the possessions.

Under normal circumstances items essential to you work cannot be taken.

The normal exemptions are tools, books, vehicles and other equipment needed for your work.

Do you have a bill of sale from one company to the other and can you show what happened to the money from this sale, was the money from the sale used to clear part of the debt? if not they may consider the first point valid and take it further.

[meekle]

does the fact that the rates are business rates affect what they can or can not take?

When i challenged the bailiff for putting a levy against the server, PC and plotter for my work, he said he could levy on anything in the business. I said that i thought he could not levy on something essential for the work of the business he said that was only applicable for domestic tax not business rates.

Also, when i showed him my registration certificate and informed him that some of the goods were in the name of the new company, he said it didnt matter as the rent had been paid against the old company name therefore as far as he was concerned all goods inside belonged to the old company, irrespective of what i said.

I thought he could only levy against goods definatley in the name of the person / company namesd on the liability order. Where any dispute occured it had to be proven one way or the other?

[Conniff]

Whatever the rights and wrongs and what he can and can't take meekle, I would remove the server and hide it, especially if it has a customer base and accounts on.
If they should take it and it gets sold, they wont wipe the hard drive first.