business rate relief debt help needed ASAP or bankruptcy inevitable

[aidenb123]

hi guys new to here so thank you in advance for any help i receive. it is much appreciated as i don't no how many more sleepless nights i can manage.

1st things 1st.

i owned a business but closed it down just before xmas due to a couple of other businesses opening up the same as me credit crunch ect student fees going up less students(main business). the sub lease is still in affect until november 2013. meaning we would have to pay business rates up until then. (£450 pcm)

our landlord said he would end the lease for us if we paid him 3 months rent. January to march. then all our business rates would also be cancelled as you are allowed 3 months grace when closing a business.

Now our landlord has gone back on his word (suspect new incoming tennents have pulled out of taking over our shop.and told us he wants us to still pay him pcm. This now means we also have to pay our business rates pcm which we simply cant afford to do as now we are only living off 1 wage.

we signed the lease as a sole trader and became a ltd company a year into our tenancy agreement. so no chance of desolving.

Only option for us so we have been told is bankruptcy.

Has anyone on here got any advice for us about this or any other options as we are only in our early 20s and want to avoid this is we can.

Will the council be lenient or is there any way of reducing the business rates to be able to pay less monthly?

as far as the landlord is concerned he is not now my priority to pay. the council come at the top of my list.

 

many thanks for reading this and i am very grateful for any advice given to try help us move forward instead of backwards.

 

thanks again