Our client instructed us to challenge the business rates because they received summons to attend a hearing at the Magistrates Court due to non-payment of several thousands of pounds.
We did intense research on this subject matter; we also contacted three other council offices (on anonymous basis) across the UK in order to take their view on the validity of the summons and the demand of payment of the Business Rates.
We wrote to the office that had instigated into this case to issue the summons. We warned them about the costs of initiating such misconceived summons; and demanded for the non-payment to be written off immediately to nil. However, they failed to withdraw the summons on time.
Additionally, we were challenged by the council to provide the series of evidence on which our suggestions for withdrawal of summons were based. We had provided disclosure of all the information from our client’s landlord, accountant, builder, letter from emergency services, newspaper articles, and letter from the valuation officer. We liaised with several authorities and people involved in this case. We kept our client updated throughout.
Finally, a day before the hearing, we were informed by the council that they have put a nil value on the property from the date of the fire until the works are finished. The proceedings were already issued by them in the Magistrates Court therefore we have demanded repayment of our clients full legal costs.
You see from this example that within 14 working days we have resolved the most complicated issue that was financially worrying our client. If you would like to challenge the council debts that are unreasonably demanded by them then please contact us.