Pursued for a debt thats not a debt

winslo

Hi dont know if this is in the right section but here it goes

Friend of mine purchased a shop last year from a ltd company. Basically bought all the equipment and stock in the shop anbd took over lease of the building. A price was agreed with the owner to include all stock.....cut a long story short monies were paid all was well, until he received a email a few months later from the previous owner with 2 badly typed up invoices on. These totaled around £1k, the owner is trying to charge for stock that has already been purchase....and is wanting more than some things cost new!

Anyway.....

As far as he is concerned, there is no debt.
It also turn out upon investigation that this guys ltd company has been dizzolved?

Whats going on here? What can he do about it?

Thanks

McKneff

Well if your friend bought the shop last year and everything else, presumably he has the proof that he bought it......

ALIBOBSY

I would assume the old owner is trying it on. Friend should double check his contract to ensure everything he had stock wise was covered in the agreement they made for peace of mind. But otherwise ignore.

If the old owner was serious surely he would have sent a proper letter and invoices, sounds very dodgy to me. I would also tell your friend to ensure all locks are changed (if not already) to ensure the ex owner can't get in and try to help himself.

Good luck

Ali x

winslo

Hi
thanks for quick replys

Sounds like he is trying it on, its only really come to light since one if his staff memeber is buying the shop. This guy must have got wind somehow and he ever rang the other day and said to the employee....if you buy the sho you are taking on his debt!

All locks, alarm code etc were changed the week he took ownership

There has been a letter sent also but it just duplicates the email

Thanks all

Trajal

Your friends needs a lawyer at this point I'm afraid. He's bought the assets of a company rather than the shares. Presumably some kind of due-diligence was in place which itemised exactly what was contained in the sale and purchase agreement (referred to as an SPA).

If this didn't happen, then it could get annoying very quickly. I'd strongly recommending asking a contentious corporate lawyer for a free half hour of their time to give an idea as to what the outcome could be. No one on this forum is going to be able to advise you on this - it's very different to a consumer rights problem.

winslo

He did not buy the company
The previous owner had 3 shops in different areas

He sold one of those shops to my friend, with all equipment, stock and took over the lease of the business
My friend has been trading in his own company name etc for the past 9 months

The previous owner i think has sold his other 2 shop aswell, but i do know that his company is now dizzolved

Trajal

That's what I just said. He bought the assets of the company, not the company itself. My suggestion of a lawyer is still the way forward - this is not a consumer problem, you're into company and commercial law at this point.