Any advice appreciated!

Mistral001

Try the consumer forums. You are a business that owes another business money - a lot of money and are trying to get away without paying it. You probably will not have many friends on this forum.

Thenavigator

Surely someone else would have been in similar postion, not all businesses work and sometimes they fail. mine only failed initially after 6 years and then i set up again and it lasted less tahn a year because i couldnt get teh credit required.

some businesses need to run on credit terms to suceed, doesnt make me a bad person.

motorguy

Thenavigator wrote: »

Surely someone else would have been in similar postion, not all businesses work and sometimes they fail. mine only failed initially after 6 years and then i set up again and it lasted less tahn a year because i couldnt get teh credit required.

some businesses need to run on credit terms to suceed, doesnt make me a bad person.

You dont seem to see the inherent wrongdoing here.

You started a business and when it went bad you closed the limited company and re-opened the following day to continue trading under effectively the same name.

You made business to business commitments with money you didnt have and then decided to shut this business down too, because it too owed money.

Flower it up all you like but you ran two businesses into the ground owing money to other businesses - and possibly were trading when you knew the second business was insolvent which could in itself make you personally liable - expecting all that debt to be written off.

In terms of "similar", i know of one company ran into the ground deliberately by the directors whilst they mismanaged company funds and assets on the basis they knew it was going down anyway.

Sadly the problems didnt just "go away" when they liquidated the company and if i recall correctly the directors were held personally liable and had to pay up - cars, homes, everything went. I think there were even criminal charges.

fishybusiness

They are just bullies in suits, they dont care that i am losing my business.

Na, they are doing their job, and you do owe rather a lot of money.

I should think they have worked out you have assets outside of your business, and will no doubt have ample motivation to find a way to get at it.

If it were me, I would be pleased if I got out of it without prosecution.

paddyrg

Ouch - but it does sounds as if you may have traded improperly and quite possibly criminally. Can you find urgent personal finance from anywhere? Even those 'we buy any X' lowballers?

robatwork

Thenavigator wrote: »

I had a limited company which went into liquidation in January 2014 With this company closing I had to open another one so I could continue to work.

I'm now about to liquidate again.....

Firstly it sounds like you aren't cut out to be running a company.

Secondly have you thought about the companies to whom you owe money? They might be very small like yourselves and you going into liquidation, twice, may put them out of business through no fault of their own.

You want advice? Don't run another limited company.

Thenavigator

Well harper cross associates have decided that there is no negotiation. They have advised me today that they have carried out a wealth status check on me and that I own my own property and have details of my lender and title deeds. I am not trying to avoid my debts but a limited company is meant to protect my personal assets. I own my own home and its a family home and feel that it should not be put at risk for a business when i have not consented. Harper Cross Associates keep telling me that I have breached section 216 and 217 of the Insolvency Act 1986.

I had no intention of breaking the law or to run up debts taht I couldnt pay.

fishybusiness

I am not trying to avoid my debts but a limited company is meant to protect my personal assets

Unfortunately, it appears you are likely to have fallen foul of the legislation.

I guess this is where someone tells you using a solicitor to start up a limited company is a good idea rather than the quick online method - that way you would be put in the picture regarding any potential legal pitfalls.

The fact that there is no negotiation from the pursuing company suggests they are sure of their ground.

I'm wondering where the £27k has gone, especially after you liquidated once before. Perhaps Harper Cross are too?

I own my own home and its a family home and feel that it should not be put at risk for a business when i have not consented.

With the greatest respect to you, if you didn't seek legal advice when setting up your company (plural), and thought in simple terms your personal assets would not ever be at risk, perhaps you were naive, and if that is the case, your first step should have been in to a solicitors office.

Perhaps the best you can hope for is to make an offer to pay over a year or two, which will give you time to get back on your feet and maybe not lose your home - back to the solicitor?

Grumpyyeti

I appreciate this thread is a little old but it does pop up at near the top of the list if you Google "Harper Cross". So for anyone thinking of using these debt collectors/bailiffs to recover debt my advice is firstly "DON'T" and if you want to see why see my review of the company on Trust Pilot for my experience of them - a year and nearly £2,000 wasted, although I'm trying to get most of that back through Section 75 (Thanks for the tip, Martin).

I'm updating my post to advise anyone thinking of using this company to think again. I did get around £500 of my initial £700 back through a Section £75 claim but have had to pursue the rest of the debt, paid by bank transfer at their insistence (which should have rung warning bells but you just assume this sort of business would be highly regulated - apparently not) through MCOL. Today my papers have been returned to me by the Court as "Unserved" the envelope being marked Return to Sender Not at this address. The address the Court sent the papers to is the one prominent on their web-site. So despite the professional looking web-site I can only conclude this company is dodgy at the very least.