Greetings, i lost my business a couple of years ago and was left with arrears on my Business rates , the shop premises was leased to my Ltd Company but went into administration . The council served a liability order in jan 2013 in my name

They have told me because i did not attend the hearing that i have to pay and the opportunity to dispute the liability has expired ..

on top of this they are insisting i make large regular monthly payments which equates to 30% of my monthly take home pay saying they WILL NOT accept lower payments because of the age of the debt

this is putting an extreme strain on my family and children

Southend council have already sent enforcement agents to our home

any advice will be greatly appropriated thank you

here is their response to my question below

Dear *****

I refer to your email received on * January 2016 advising that******* Limited should have been liable for Non-Domestic Rates at ******for the period **June 2012 - ** November 2013.

Liability Orders were granted for this period of time on 9th January 2013 and 14th August 2013 in your name. When a Liability Order has been granted, the opportunity to dispute the liability for rates has expired.

The matter will therefore not be investigated and account will not be retrospectively amended.

I trust this has clarified matters.

Hi and Welcome to CAG

The Valuation Tribunal is the place to dispute liability to pay council tax. There is a different process for non-domestic or business rates.

See their website for more details at:

http://www.valuationtribunal.gov.uk

If you believe the liability order should not have been made in the first place, and/or it was made in error, then it would be far cheaper instead to apply to set it aside - but you need to act really fast. Challenges to liability to pay should be brought in the Valuation Tribunal.

It is not unlike applying to set aside a statutory demand when it comes to time running. Write to the court and ask for a hearing to consider your application to set the liability order aside.

Setting Aside Liability Orders

Magistrates are creatures of statute and do not have a statutory power to re-open civil cases, even when they know they have made an error! This used to mean that the only way to challenge a liability order was to judicially review the order - a highly expensive process.

Prompt Applications

Those wishing to apply to set aside a liability order should note that as a matter of principle for all challenges to administrative and judicial decisions, the application should be made promptly. Time starts to run from the date of the order, or from when a defendant has notice or constructive notice of the order. Constructive notice of a liability order can be deemed from as little as notice of the issue of a summons with no notice of the actual outcome –

para 33 Brighton & Hove;

“the jurisdiction to reopen a liability order will be unavailable to a defendant who delays in circumstances in which he has notice that an order may have been made, although he had not received a copy or been informed that an order has been made."

If you wish to challenge a finding of liability to pay council tax will be pleased to note that there is no time limit for appealing to the council concerned, providing they have not already given a decision notice or 'final decision'.

http://www.sarahrobsonbarrister.co.uk/Liability-Orders.html

Thank You ^^^ already found lots of useful info .. will keep the thread updated

Freedom .

Note that Business Rates has a separate system of working to that of Council Tax. The problem with Business Rates is that there is no appeal in the same way as council tax has a valuation tribunal - legislation treats businesses in a tougher manner than individuals.

For business rates the liability , unless you take the case for a judicial appeal, should be determined before the magistrate makes a decision on issuing a liability order. The liability order is the courts agreement that the named party owes the monies. Where as Council Tax legislation prevents liability disputes being considered by the magistrates court, this restriction does not apply to business rates (due to absence of an appeal tribunal for that aspect)

Craig