Feeling Terrified

Samoens12

I am sorry that I seem to be putting a confused picture on here - let me try and be clearer and explain why I did the SOA as I did.

Home

My husband and I (second marriage) live in a house that I bought after my divorce. we consider it a joint property although have never changed the deeds. We can live off my husbands salary to pay the mortgage, living expenses and french mortgages which is why I have not included any of these costs into the SOA

France

We have a partially renovated farmhouse which was let to tenants for three years. They have recently done a moonlight flit to Spain owing us €1200. We are now marketing this property and the equity is about €20000 but the French property market is very depressed.

The other two properties are leasebacks. These are properties that you buy but are then leased back to a holiday company under a commercial lease for 11 years. These performed well for about 7 years until the financial crisis hit France and the holiday company went into administration paying us no rent but we were still required to pay the mortgages. They have now started to pay the rents again but we will not see the arrears. The resale market for these is very poor at the moment and the commercial lease ends in two years so it is probably best to sit tight on them for now.

Business

I bought a retail business in 2007. I admit I was very naive at the start with little business sense, then my husband lost his job but is now re-employed and then we had the issues in France alongside the UK recession. The credit card debt started to mount around this time and we also took out a secured loan hoping that the recession would ease quicker than it ever did.

The business is currently on the market and I have just reduced the price to see if I can hurry along a sale and salvage something.

I owe the landlords rent - those arose from a period when they were renewing the lease and didnt invoice me for a year. At the time we were struggling in France etc and stupidly I didnt put the money by. I offered the landlords £4000 a year over 5 years but they did not respond. At Christmas they sent in the Bailliffs with a walking possession order (or the new equivalent of) I paid around £6000 to themm over Christmas which then left me unable to pay the VAT. The monthly rent payment was due again yesterday and I have been unable to pay all of it and I have asked the landlord to allow me extra time to do do so. I am not currently under the order but am very worried that he will just lock me out of the premises. Is this likely? What does he stand to gain?

I have a time to pay agreement with HMRC of £1000 per month and this is currently up-to-date. The next quarter will be due on 7th August and I have nothing put by.

Credit cards are at £12000 and £3400 and are two months behind on payments. The business credit card is at £3940 and is up-to-date.

I owe my suppliers about £8500 and most have been really supportive and I have been paying them small amounts with an informal arrangement but will they allow me to continue?

My neighbour wants to take assignment of the lease but is expecting me to pay dilapidations and I will have to pay staff redundancies. The landlords are aware of his interest.

I am two months behind on business rates (£1400)

As I have not bought any stock turnover in the business is dwindling adding to cashflow problems.


Job

I have just got a full time job which is good news - I earn £22000 plus £300 a month car allowance. All business mileage is paid for. The car is on a PCP so not an asset I believe.

SOA

I did this based on my business costs - the food costs are supplies for the coffee shop. What would the best way of doing this to get the best picture of where I am at so that I can plan. I am going round in circles trying to formulate the best plan with so many permutations - I manage to sell the business, I close the doors after a closing down sale, the landlords change the locks.

I am only sleeping about 2 hours a night and working full-time whilst trying to manage the business as well so this really isnt helping me think straight so I really do apologise if my posts are confused.

I really appreciate you taking the time to read and comment.

I guess my biggest questions / fears are what do you think the landlord will do? At what point will action with the credit card companies escalate and what should I be doing to mitigate this? Do I keep trying for a sale on the business even though cash flow is diminishing or do I close down and then deal with the dilapidation issue?

Thank you

slowpoke_rodriguez

Does your husband know the scale of the problems and your fears? What is he doing to help?
If he ain't helping, you need to sell something, whether you get a good price or not. Off the topo of my head the house seems the likeliest candidate.

Business_Debtline

Hi Samoens12

I am sorry that you didn’t find our service helpful when you telephoned us previously.

It does appear that you are dealing with a very complex, stressful situation. I would recommend that you speak to one of our advisers as soon as possible so we can clarify your situation and advise on your options.

Completing a budget can be a challenge if you are self-employed, particularly if you are also working full time. However our advisers can help you put together a bespoke budget & help with completing a manual tax calculation. This can be done immediately if you have your figures to hand.

We will be able to help establish whether you have a viable business, talk you through your options & advise what impact the Bankruptcy and IVA are likely to have on your home and other assets.

You can call us on 0800 197 6026, our advisers are available 9am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday.

Regards


Richard – Business Debtline Adviser.

Samoens12

Hi Richard. I am sorry if the wording sounded harsh - thinking back it's more probable that they weren't making my decisions for me and I felt overwhelmed with all the info and options that I felt no clearer!

I have spoken to them again today and redone my budget. It's clarified that keeping the business going is making matters worse so unless I get an offer in the next week or so I need to progress with an assignment of these lease that has been offered. I think then a DMP will see me debt free in under 10 years or less if I can sell a French property

Thanks