Can they take my pet Tarantulas and Snake?

spidwoman

Hi. I'm new to the forum. My husband and myself were declared bankrupt last month. We had out phonecall from our OR last week. We didn't declare these on the SOA as we were told by the CAB that they werent assets, but in general convo with OR my hubby mentioned our Tarantulas and snake. Let me stress that they are only PETS and not used for any other purpose! We do not make any money from them, and they are just our own personal collection. We have 1 snake and 53 tarantulas, 6 of which are our childrens so they are not touching those.

The OR has said they these ARE assets, and has phoned me requesting details of species names, sizes and sexes, and they are now being valued by an auction house! How they will get a fair valuation I do not know! I have friends I have met through my hobby, and along with me have guestimated their value at around £250. I have been told by the OR that whatever they are valued at by the acution house, that to keep them we will have to pay around 75% of the valuation. If buying these seperately from a pet shop, you may look at paying anything over around £700, as pet shops sell them for extortionate prices!

Can this be right??? These are only pets, that are hardly expensive. Apparantly a buyer has already been found for them if we cant afford to buy them. Also the snake comes into this, which was a Xmas present from my hubbys parents. It was £65 but is worth more.

I am distraught at the thought of them being taken Is it the same as I have read with cars, etc, in banruptcy? If I cannot afford to 'buy them back', will I be given replacements or an allowance for replacements?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you

spidwoman

I just wanted to ask also, when we are given an amount as to what we have to pay if we want to keep them, will we get time to decide? I hope he wont want a decision on the spot!

Also, wanted to add that I have only spent around £80 on tarantulas, as I were given the rest by friends as babies through breeding projects . My collection has in no way contributed to our bankruptcy

DON79

Hi Spidwoman, I am very sorry to hear what is going on with your OR...I cannot really say whether this is normal practice or not given that they are pets - there are a couple of posters on here who know quite a bit about the OR process so they can maybe help more, didn't want you to think that your post is being ignored.

Regarding buying them back - the way it seems to work with buying back cars is that you make a low offer and then work your way up to get to the minimum amount that the OR will take, but start low and work upwards increasing the offer if you can. I do not think that you will be given any allowance towards replacements - the OR only does this for what is viewed as an essential item - e.g. a car for getting to and from work.

I really hope that you do find a solution and a big hug to you too.

Donna

DON79

spidwoman wrote: »

I just wanted to ask also, when we are given an amount as to what we have to pay if we want to keep them, will we get time to decide? I hope he wont want a decision on the spot!

Also, wanted to add that I have only spent around £80 on tarantulas, as I were given the rest by friends as babies through breeding projects . My collection has in no way contributed to our bankruptcy

Hi, I think you will be given time to consider an offer for your pets, tell him you need a couple of days to sort this out.

I have pets but none of the eight legged variety and it is horrible to think of them getting taken away. Have you got any very rare ones or unusual ones?

spidwoman

DON79 wrote: »

Hi, I think you will be given time to consider an offer for your pets, tell him you need a couple of days to sort this out.

I have pets but none of the eight legged variety and it is horrible to think of them getting taken away. Have you got any very rare ones or unusual ones?

Thanks so much Donna I need hugs atm

A couple of them are rarer, but as they are males, which arent worth as much as females, they are probably only worth £30-40. Around 25 or so are tiny babies, which are roughly worth £1-2 each, so I think the £250 is about right. I may get £150 or so from a dealer wanting them as a job lot, but more if sold seperately and much, much more through a pet shop.

I am worried as they because they may be considered specialist, if the auction house dont know who to ask and go to a pet shop, the valuation might be more. I'm wondering how much the buyer is prepared to pay for them.

MrsWallop

big hugs to you!
We have a parrot that was a wedding gift 7 years ago - it hasnt even occurred to us that he could be thought of as an asset - he is like our 1st child!
We havent listed him as an 'asset', and wont be mentioning him in the interview. God help anyone that tried to take him away - he would bite their arms off then shout me or Dave to help him! :rotfl:

keepmyhouse

OMG, I cant believe Im reading this, a pet to some people is like a member of their family, how horrible,I mean is a couple of hundred quid gunna make that much difference, the credit companies think nothing of adding double this amount in late charges over a 6 month period. Had the companies not been so bloody greedy in the first place, with their rates then not half as many people would have defaulted.

DON79

Is there any way you can get your own independent valuation carried out and present this to the OR as confirmation of value?

Thats the way they work with houses - you get an independent valuation and send it to the OR and then the OR offers purchase of Beneficial Interest to be bought. I know it is not quite the same as they are your pets but if you can get an expert to do a valuation, it may help with keeping the cost down to buy them back.

I have never had a more exotic pet, have only held a snake a couple of times but if I got a more exotic pet, it would be even more chaos in my house what with two dogs, a chinchilla, tropical fish and my OH is getting some chickens in April (he talked me into it)! :rolleyes:

spidwoman

DON79 wrote: »

Is there any way you can get your own independent valuation carried out and present this to the OR as confirmation of value?

Thats the way they work with houses - you get an independent valuation and send it to the OR and then the OR offers purchase of Beneficial Interest to be bought. I know it is not quite the same as they are your pets but if you can get an expert to do a valuation, it may help with keeping the cost down to buy them back.

I have never had a more exotic pet, have only held a snake a couple of times but if I got a more exotic pet, it would be even more chaos in my house what with two dogs, a chinchilla, tropical fish and my OH is getting some chickens in April (he talked me into it)! :rolleyes:

I have a friend with an invert company, who has offered me an official valuation, but the OR has said that the auction house valuation is the ONLY one he will except. I'm so upset I am willing to pay something towards getting them back, but, as the OR is obviously well aware of, we are hardly in a strong financial position to offer much! Even though the kids ones are safe, they will be devastated if they have to go, as will I

I was made aware that 'assets' were something over over £1000 or £2000 value, which these are clearly not!

Thanks for your support guys

keepmyhouse

You hear so many different stories, I have come to the conclusion that it really does depend on the OR you get, it sounds as though your is quite tough, when it comes round for me I will empty my house all but the essentials and send the dog to my mums.

Hope you dont have to loose them x x

keepmyhouse

Infact the more I think about it the angrier I feel, take the rotten bleeder an empty cage, tell him they escaped and if he wants them to get off his back side and find them Arrrrrrrggghh