ADA guidance on Drainage Rate collection procedure including dealing with
non-payment
Overview
This document is based on best practice in the IDB community. The purpose of this document is to
assist those Boards who have had problems with collecting Drainage Rates and would benefit from a
designated procedure in place. IDBs do not have to abide by this suggested procedure.
Legal basis: The Board acts under the Land Drainage Act 1991, Section 54 – Powers for Enforcing
Payment.
Drainage Rate Collection Procedure
Stage 1: Drainage Rate demands sent and reminders issued
1. Drainage Rate demands are sent out in April Annually.
2. First reminder is sent mid June advising payment within 10 days*.
3. Second reminder is sent mid July/August advising payment within 14 days*. This reminder
should give notice of the additional costs an individual will incur if rate demands are not
settled. Internally there may be some flexibility in this date dependent upon date for
submitting papers to court.
* Both of these reminder timescales are at the discretion of the Board and can be amended. These
timescales have however been deemed fair and reasonable by courts that IDBs have worked with as
part of their procedure.
Stage 2: Summons sent to Local Magistrates Court
4. A court date is set (booked months in advance) at the Local Magistrates Court and
Summonses (in respect of non-payers) are printed together with two copies of the Complaint
list and sent to the Local Magistrates Court. One copy of the Complaint list is retained by the
Court and the other copy is sent back to the Drainage Board so that an updated list (striking
through those who have paid) can be given to the Clerk of the Court on the hearing day.
Processing the debts through the courts in this manner will lead to costs which non-payers
will incur to cover. A minimum of £25* costs is added to cover the costs of sending the
Summons (immediate cost), admin and court costs and the costs of the Liability Order. Nonpayers are informed of the court date and their opportunity to attend if they so wish.
* This exact cost may depend on the costs of preparing Summons for the court and court costs
incurred. (£25 seems to be the minimum set amongst IDBs currently). The Boards may choose to
charge in two stages, firstly for the Summons, and secondly if it goes to Court and a Liability Order
needs to be issued.
5. The court returns the signed Summonses and these are then sent out to ratepayers by proof
of postage (recorded delivery is not suitable as this requires the ratepayer to sign for the
demand). A minimum of 14 days notice should be given before the Court hearing date.
6. Outstanding amounts may be paid before the court date is reached. Some Boards may decide
that if it is the first time a ratepayer has received a Summons and they contact the Board and
pay, the costs, excluding the costs for sending the Summons to court, will be dropped.
Alternatively the costs may have been charged in stages and thus the second stage of costs is
not incurred.
Stage 3: Liability Orders issued and settling outstanding rates through Bailiffs
7. A few days prior to the court date the court should be updated on whether any ratepayers
have made payment so that the listing Officer can amend the hearing list (alternatively or
additionally, an updated Complaint list should be brought to the hearing). On the court date
set, Liability Orders are issued for the remaining outstanding amounts. The Liability Orders
are signed by the magistrate and issued.
8. Non-payers issued with a Liability Order receive a letter advising them that the Liability Order
will be passed to the Board’s Bailiff if the debt remains unpaid after 14 days (the Board must
by law write to the rate payer allowing them 14 days to pay). The Board does not incur any
costs as a result of using the Bailiff Company. The Bailiff Company will recover their own costs
on top of what is owed to the Board.
9. Generally all rates are collected in time for preparing the year end accounts.
Additional Considerations:

Some Boards may allow appropriate extensions to anyone who has queried their rates or
where land is subject to sale, development or revaluation. Some Boards may be prepared to
consider individual circumstances and may be open to dialogue with ratepayers.

Collecting outstanding rates from anyone who has a history of psychological illness may
need to be treated with a bit of care. If they are under treatment or have recently received
treatment for their illness, they could be deemed a ‘vulnerable person’ and therefore any
additional admin costs may be deemed inappropriate and unenforceable.

This guidance has been created by summarising a collection of procedures used by a number
of IDBs.
Some data based on the experiences of IDBs:
IDB 1: 25 summons prepared for court  10 Court/ Liability Orders  6 Bailiff visits needed (1,700
rating assessments)
IDB 2: 30 summons prepared for court  10 Court/ Liability Orders sent to Bailiff (1,200 rating
assessments)
IDB 3: 55 summons prepared for court  7 Court Orders sent to Bailiff