Insolvency practitioners

[bananaskin123]

Just a bit of background. I was left a commercial warehouse property about two years ago. The tenant had a 15 year lease but was always late with rent and went into voluntary liquidation in December. He has broken the lease.
What I'd like to ask if possible: we have a solicitor dealing with the tenant, a forfeiture notice was served, locks changed but twice he has broken them. The solicitor is waiting for the IP to go into the property to see if any of the contents are worth anything. Can I ask does the IP arrange for them to be taken away once the inventory has been done or is that left to the tenant.

Its a long frustrating process because the tenant is very manipulative. Is the IP on the "side" of the tenant or completely neutral?

Just really wondered how your process (if you are an IP works) please.

The insolvency practitioner should be on the side of those who are owed money by the tenant. Their job is to get as much cash for the assets as they can and distribute that to the creditors. You need to talk to the IP about clearing the premises. There is no single answer as to what will happen.

As PP said, they are supposed to be on the side of the creditors.

Realistically, they are making commercial decisions as they are running a business. They will look to sever the legal obligations of the tenant, realise anything of value and leave the rest. You may very well be stuck with the bill for the cleanup, although you may be able claim that in the Liquidation as costs arising from the lease.

Don't hold your breath for any money - IP firms are also very good at making sure the fees equal the asset recoveries, especially in small liquidations.

Thanks for the info. I'm having sleepless nights worrying about this. The tenant still has access to the property and the solicitor is chasing up the IP. Not too worried about the money as I still hold a substantial deposit which might help cover legal fees etc. When I spoke to our solicitor on Friday he's chasing up the IP but I suppose all these things take time.

Just one further question: as its voluntary liquidation is he still allowed to work or are bank accounts etc closed. Its been posted in The Gazette so its all official.
Never ever been in this situation before. I think I'm prepared for a massive clear up when he finally goes.

As I said previously the locks were changed twice and broken by the tenant. The lock now (the original put back) we have keys for but suspect the tenant may also have a spare. Wish the property was close by but unfortunately its not. However hopefully as we've a solicitor he or his agent will be keeping an eye on it.

He can work but can't trade under the name of the company he went insolvent under.

S216 Insolvency Act applies to re-use of a company name. Unless he has purchased the company from the Liquidator, he almost certainly cannot trade using the same name OR a name similar enough to make people believe it is the same company. (I say almost certainly because there are a few exceptions regarding companies he was involved in running for a certain time prior to the liquidation). Examples would be old co called Bloggs Ltd, New co called Bloggs Uk Ltd or Jim Bloggs Ltd.

Same applies if company uses a trading name similar to old company, so if old co was called Bloggs Ltd, he can't get around S216 by having a new company called Miaow Ltd and trading as "Bloggs" (lots try this one!)

Breaching S216 is a criminal offence so do report it if you find out he's doing this