Contractor Owed Money

Delta87

I'm not sure if I'm in the right place for this, but hopefully I can find some help anyway.

To be honest, it's a pretty complicated situation, so I'll make it as simple as possible. I'm a self employed contractor working primarily for a networking company, which i'll call Company A.

Company A received their work from Company B, a middle-man so-to-speak, for Company C.

My agreed contract with Company A was that all my work came directly from them and such, they were the ones that paid me, not B or C. I received large numbers of networking equipment to complete my allocated jobs, which was owned by Company B but sent to me by Company A.

The problem I have is that Company B went into administration, leaving Company A with numerous of unpaid invoices. This has then filtered to me as Company A are now threatening to close in order to get out of paying the engineers, i.e. me.

My first thought was that I could sell the stock I still have to clear the money/invoices that Company A owe me. However, Company A claim that Company C directly purchased the stock from Company B while they were in administration. I'm not sure how much of this is true or if they're just trying to get the stock back off me to sell themselves.

I just want to know where I stand legally - can I sell the stock to clear their bills? I'm due over £3000, dating back since the beginning of December now. I've been more than patient with them all in waiting for further instructions but all I seem to get is lies and deception while they look out for themselves.

I appreciate this isn't the easiest problem to read, but unfortunately Company B and C are both household names and I'd rather save myself any further trouble by not naming them.

Thanks.

gb12345

Delta87 wrote: »

I'm not sure if I'm in the right place for this, but hopefully I can find some help anyway.

To be honest, it's a pretty complicated situation, so I'll make it as simple as possible. I'm a self employed contractor working primarily for a networking company, which i'll call Company A.

Company A received their work from Company B, a middle-man so-to-speak, for Company C.

My agreed contract with Company A was that all my work came directly from them and such, they were the ones that paid me, not B or C. I received large numbers of networking equipment to complete my allocated jobs, which was owned by Company B but sent to me by Company A.

The problem I have is that Company B went into administration, leaving Company A with numerous of unpaid invoices. This has then filtered to me as Company A are now threatening to close in order to get out of paying the engineers, i.e. me.

My first thought was that I could sell the stock I still have to clear the money/invoices that Company A owe me. However, Company A claim that Company C directly purchased the stock from Company B while they were in administration. I'm not sure how much of this is true or if they're just trying to get the stock back off me to sell themselves.

I just want to know where I stand legally - can I sell the stock to clear their bills? I'm due over £3000, dating back since the beginning of December now. I've been more than patient with them all in waiting for further instructions but all I seem to get is lies and deception while they look out for themselves.

I appreciate this isn't the easiest problem to read, but unfortunately Company B and C are both household names and I'd rather save myself any further trouble by not naming them.

Thanks.

First off, you really need proper legal advice, not just opinions from a forum.

But my take on it is -

You have in your posession items that were assets of Company B, which were purchased from the administrators of Company B by Company C. These are in your possession as you would have been installing them at Company C on behalf of Company B. The fact is that you have no title to these items, they now belong to Company C (assuming they were purchased) or form part of the assets of Company B.

Your argument is with Company A, who you have a contract with and have invoiced but they are refusing to pay you because they have no way of getting the money from Company B.

You have referred to them all as "Company" I assume Company A is a Limited company and you weren't just using the term for convenience.

You will ultimately have to take Company A to court to get payment. However, as you have hinted, Company A will probably just go into liquidation, so you will likely get little if anything back I'm afraid.

Nednats

Are you a worker for company A?