Are there any insolvency practitioners about? Need your expertise!

[Pradaqueen]

Long, long back story which I will try and condense but goes back to October 2013. It involves a real charlatan trader who failed to supply me windows and doors for my house. Contract value £30k. Should be a section 75 claim as a substantial amount paid by cc except the trader altered some months after sending - i.e faked - an email to me which credit card company relied upon - the contents of which made the contract appear to be more than £30k so outside section 75. He won't send the original electronically (as this will reveal when it was created) and the CC company won't demand it. We therefore decided to take the trader to court as he was holding more than £20k of our money and there was a clear breach of contract as neither the supply or fit element had been fulfilled. we intended to join the cc company in. The trader then changes his mind about the value of the contract and now says yes it was £30k. Hallelujah we all think except that the cc company appears to also pursue him for the money as well as us since his revelation and, without warning, to us or the cc company the trader places himself personally and the trading company into an IVA for more than £1m (!) having previously opened another company trading under a different name. We now cannot pursue him in court as he is in an IVA. The cc company have not changed their position - yet.

Now many other matters have arisen about this charlatan's behaviour - blatant lying etc but my question for any IP out there is this - he is in an IVA for more than £1m but is still trading on the web under the trading name in the IVA, has another directorship and there is no warning to any new customers that the company or he is in an IVA. Is this correct? Surely the law cannot allow customers to part with money when they are unlikely to receive the goods? There is no warning on his web page and a google review (mainly posted since we started the agreement with him) reveal that we are not the only people to have been taken in by him. we carried out due diligence before we dealt with him but when you are not looking for it, it can be hard to discover. anyway, Can we demand that there are clear warnings to new clients?I appreciate that genuine IVA's are an attempt to allow a trader to work his way out of this situation, but a delve into this man's past definitely reveals a pattern of similar behaviour.

Any expert advice gladly received as to his legal requirements to declare.

Thanks all!

Hi pradaqueen, I'm an insolvency practitioner. An IVA by definition cannot include company debts. If this guy is in an IVA he may well be permitted to continue trading. His IVA may incorporate trading debts if he is a sole trader; if he traded through a limited company and that is in a CVA (check Companies House), again the business will be continuing to trade as future profits are used to fund the voluntary arrangement by way of regular contributions. There is no requirement to disclose that you are in a voluntary arrangement to non-creditors (creditors should have been notified of the debtor's intent to seek a VA as they have the right to vote on the proposals).
So first steps - company or individual? If he owes you money either way, find out the insolvency practitioner's details and contact them to submit your claim. A VA is designed to pay a dividend to creditors and must provide a better outcome for creditors than liquidation or bankruptcy, so if your claim is admitted (and on the face of it, it should be), you will get a proportion of it back.
PM me if you need - and if there are any other IPs on mumsnet I'd be delighted to meet them!

Hi ipractitioner thanks so much for your extremely helpful and prompt reply!This chap has entered into an IVA as a sole trader in both his personal name and his trading name. He is also listed as a Director of a new company. I was not notified of his intent to enter into a VA. And I suspect he is hiding assets for various reasons which I cannot disclose here. I am likely to get a copy of the agreement which has already been agreed without my knowledge on Monday and if Ok with you, I will PM you about it? I am genuinely concerned that he will continue to take money under false pretenses under the new company/ trading name without his IP's knowledge - he is both that deceitful and stupid in equal measures and another poor sod will have the same experience both I and others have had. I do not expect to see the pence in the pound promised materialise in any way.

Have a super weekend anyway! Thanks again.