The Non-Domestic Rating (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) (Amendment) Regulations 1998

Made: 7th December 1998

Laid before Parliament: 14th December 1998

Coming into force: 1st April 1999

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, as respects England, and the Secretary of State for Wales as respects Wales, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 143(2) of and paragraphs 1 and 3(3) of Schedule 9 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988¹, hereby make the following Regulations:–

Citation and commencement

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Non-Domestic Rating (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) (Amendment) Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 1st April 1999.

Amendment of principal regulations

2

The Non-Domestic Rating (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) Regulations 1989² are amended as provided below.

Liability orders: issue of summons

3

After regulation 13(2) (liability orders: further provision) there is inserted–

(2A) No liability order shall be made in pursuance of a summons issued under regulation 12(2) unless fourteen days have elapsed since the day on which the summons was served.

Certification of bailiffs

4

After regulation 14(6)³ there is inserted–

(6A) No distress under this regulation may be made other than by a person who is authorised to act as a bailiff by a general certificate granted under section 7 of the Law of Distress Amendment Act 1888.

⁴

Commitment to prison

5

• (1) For regulation 16(6) there is substituted–

(6) If– (a) before a warrant has been issued, or a term of imprisonment fixed and the issue of a warrant postponed, an amount determined in accordance with paragraph (6A) is paid or tendered to the authority, or (b) after a term of imprisonment has been fixed and the issue of a warrant postponed, any amount the court has ordered the debtor to pay is paid or tendered to the authority, or (c) after a warrant has been issued, the amount stated in it is paid or tendered to the authority, the authority shall accept the amount concerned, no further steps shall be taken as regards its recovery, and the debtor, if committed to prison, shall be released. (6A) The amount referred to in paragraph (6)(a) above is the aggregate of– (a) the appropriate amount mentioned in regulation 14(2) (or so much of it as remains outstanding), and (b) subject to sub-paragraph (6B) below, the authority’s reasonable costs incurred up to the time of payment or tender in making one or more of the applications referred to in Schedule 4. (6B) For the purposes of paragraph (6A)(b) above, the authority’s reasonable costs in respect of any application shall not exceed the amount specified in relation to that application in Schedule 4.

• (2) After Schedule 3 there is added Schedule 4, set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations.

Charges connected with distress

6

In Schedule 3⁵–

• (a) for the Table in paragraph 1 there is substituted the Table in Schedule 2 to these Regulations;

• (b) in paragraph 2(1) (amounts in respect of levy), for “£15” in paragraph (a) there is substituted “£20”, and in paragraph (b) for “15 per cent.” there is substituted “20 per cent.”; and

• (c) after paragraph 2 there is inserted–

(2A) No charge shall be payable under head F of the Table in paragraph 1 in respect of the appraisement of an item unless the debtor has been advised of the charge, and the manner of its calculation, before the appraisement is made.

SCHEDULE 1

SCHEDULE 2

Signed

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

Hilary Armstrong — Minister of State, — Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions — 4th December 1998

Jon Owen Jones — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Welsh Office — 7th December 1998

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the Non-Domestic Rating (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) Regulations 1989.

Regulation 3 requires an interval of 14 days to elapse, after the service of a summons on a person who owes sums by way of non-domestic rates, before a liability order may be made against him.

Regulation 4 introduces a requirement for bailiffs levying distress for unpaid rates to be certificated by the county court.

Regulation 5 enables billing authorities to recover their costs, up to prescribed maxima, of securing a warrant of commitment to prison as well as the debt itself where the debt is paid after the issue of a warrant.

Regulation 6 revises the levels of certain fees which may be charged in respect of distress. These are increased, on average, by a factor of approximately 25 per cent.

Footnotes