Rates arrears in Northern Ireland have soared to a record £157m, according to Land & Property Services (LPS).

The uncollected debt has risen by £19m from £138m in 2009 with nearly two-thirds of the arrears owed by non-domestic ratepayers.

John Wilkinson, Chief Executive of LPS, said: "The length of the current recession has put financial strain on a number of local businesses and this has been clearly shown by the growth in rating debt in this sector. Despite an increase in the rates collected by LPS, difficulties for local businesses has led to a growth in the figure of uncollected rates.

"The figure of uncollected debt stood at £157million at 31 March 2010, but over £30 million of this has been collected in the last three months.

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"The fact that nearly two thirds of the end of year figure relates to non-domestic customers is a cause of concern. This proportion has grown over the past year."

Mr Wilkinson appealed for businesses to contact LPS if they were in difficulties, to discuss payment options, highlighting that his Agency had a legal responsibility to enforce rate demands.

He continued: "Over the past year, we have issued 42,352 court processes against ratepayers who have defaulted on their payments and have been awarded 16,455 court decrees. Both of these figures are increases on the previous year.

"The fact is that we do not want to take ratepayers to court, but if they fail to speak to us about payment options, we are left with no choice."

The Stormont Executive has introduced a number of measures to help small businesses through the recession, for example the Small Business Rate Relief scheme and a freeze in real terms in the regional rate.

Significantly, the Small Business Rate Relief scheme came into effect on 1 April of this year and provides targeted support to businesses.

(GK/KMcA)