Magistrates court summons... need fast advice PLEASE!

[SeriousMoneyStress]

Posting under pseudonym just in case in order to fully protect friend's identity.. her DH got a letter today to say he has been summoned to the magisrates court at the beginning of September because of unpaid (£900+) business rates for his office premises (he is self employed and has been struggling for some time with cash flow issues, trying to get his business off the ground.)

Can anyone advise about what could happen as a result of this? Her Dh is saying it is a mistake, that he is a small business and not liable for this amount (etc) but friend is very upset not totally believing everything her DH is telling her as this situation is just one more thing on top of lots of other money related dilemmas they are trying to handle at the moment and she thinks he is just trying to stop her panicking .For instance, surely you would get a lot of letters/calls/warnings re the unpaid rates before it got as far as a court summons? (Meaning he could have argued that he wasn't liable way before now.)

And can a person get sent to prison in these circumstances? (He obviously hasn't got the money to pay the rates outright nor any fine he may incur. They are trying to avoid bankrupcy at all costs at the moment and have been for debt management advice etc.)

Would be really grateful for info from anyone who can advise as friend really upset and very very stressed. She is worried they are about to lose everything.

Thanks

Anyone?

she should get urgent advice from cab or local law centre.... (free). dont know the ins and outs re business rates etc. but he certinly wont be going to prison on first appearance at mags.... the point is this needs to be sorted asap. if he doesnt owe this amount he needs to sort out how he is going to argue this.... if he does he needs to negotiate paying it off, in instalments if need be....

thanks Control freaky. And what about previous letters about this? Wouldn't this summons come after lots of other contact even if he has 'ignored' it?

i think it is almost certain a summons would only come some way down the line.... not the first step.

Lots of councils send summons automatically for non payment of business rates
When I was working I used to get them from Westminster all the time - never saw any reminders either!

He needs to call the council asap and sort out whatever the issue is - usually they then stop the proceedings

And do you know if £900 (something) is more than a small business should pay for a year? Does that sound too much? (Thanks for the advice)

Cost depends on the premises, size, their value etc
900 sounds pretty cheap to me

impossible to say really i think....

Message withdrawn

£900 sounds pretty cheap to me. Why does he think it's a mistake, did he presume it was included in his rent? Just because he's a small business does not mean he is exempt from paying business rates but it would depend on what agreement he has with his landlord and what he has in writing.

If he discovers that he is responsible i.e. not his landlord, then I would recommend that he writes to the court immediately - send it registered post or hand deliver -giving an explaination of his financial circumstances and then appear at the court with the evidence to show that they couldn't afford to pay them/didn't think he was responsible and then he'll have to agree to a pay in installments and keep up with the payments. HTH