Foreign property

SmallTalk

Firstly, sorry for the essay but please could anyone give me some advice or relate their experiences?
In March 2016 my former partner was declared bankrupt by a creditor/former commercial landlord for a debt of approx. £80k for rent owed and legal costs. This was approx. 16 months after a CCJ was issued. Unfortunately at the request of the landlord I was a second name on the lease as my former partner was a foreign national. I was therefore held equally liable for the rent default etc even though I had no income or benefit from his business. As a result of his bankruptcy all of the debt moved to me and I was left with little option but to declare myself bankrupt even though I had no 'personal' debt.
Approximately 1 year after the CCJ was issued and 4 months prior to being declared bankrupt my former partner transferred overseas property worth approx. £400,000 into his brother's name. Obviously had this property been sold then it could have cleared the debts completely. His bankruptcy was being administered on behalf of the OR by a trustee and I contacted them to raise this point. I was informed that 'overseas property is exempt from UK insolvency law'. Two weeks prior to his bankruptcy he removed his name from a very large trust fund and replaced himself with another sibling. I also pointed out that he had transferred £50k worth of assets to his mother 4 months prior to his bankruptcy and had transferred 6 sports cars into other people's names retaining one aged car worth £800 in his own name. He is also earning in the region of £1k per day in cash as a sports trainer which he hasn't declared to the OR or HMRC. Aside from this he had failed to declare any income tax from 2004-2012 and despite an income of approximately £150k p.a had failed to register for VAT. I was informed by his trustee that the disposal of his assets was permitted; that the OR could not claim any cash in his possession and that because he had failed to keep any financial records the OR would not be pursuing any outstanding tax!
He has now been unconditionally discharged from his bankruptcy. I have written to the OR handling my bankruptcy and also the trustee who was handling my former partner's bankruptcy and have basically got the 'No Comment' response from both. I'm thinking that something stinks here – he has just transferred assets and walked away from everything and I have little doubt that now he's been discharged his assets will be returned to his name.

Meanwhile, I am still bankrupt until the end of May 2017. I have a 10% share in a small property valued at £45k in France. Despite sending the OR a copy of the letter received from my former partner's OR/Trustee stating in writing that 'overseas property is exempt from UK insolvency law', I have been informed that regardless of what the trustees have said my 10% share is being counted as an asset and I must find a buyer to pay £4.5k to discharge the OR interest in the property. If I do not then the OR will retain an interest after my bankruptcy is discharged. What is the law here? Either overseas property is exempt or it isn't!

I have read on a couple of websites concerning bankruptcy and overseas property and the information suggests it is not exempt but that I can ask a third party to offer a nominal sum of a few hundred pounds to the OR to discharge their interest as it will obviously cost far more for the OR to take legal to force the sale. The property is in France but the other two owners are in England (10% share) and Japan (80% share). Other advice has been that the OR will either want the full value or will retain an interest until the property is sold – there is no intention to sell it in the foreseeable future. I have not visited this property since 2004 and pay no bills for utilities, rates, maintenance etc.

Does anyone have any experience of discharging interest in a foreign property? What would be a reasonable figure to offer the OR based on their request of £4.5k? Also does anyone have any experience with an OR Ombudsman as I feel that the fact that my former partner has been allowed to walk away from his debts whilst he had the ability to pay it ten times over is simply not right.

silvercar

His bankruptcy was being administered on behalf of the OR by a trustee and I contacted them to raise this point. I was informed that 'overseas property is exempt from UK insolvency law'.

I have written to the OR handling my bankruptcy and also the trustee who was handling my former partner's bankruptcy and have basically got the 'No Comment' response from both

Mixed messages here. Either the trustee refused to discuss your former partner's finances with you, or they did?

It does seem that your former partner has managed to play the system to walk away from his responsibilities. I suppose the time to get him to play ball was before the CCJ rather than now.

On the face of it, I can understand the OR and trustee refusing to discuss someone else's case with you. It is none of your business. However, your bankruptcy seems to have been caused by one debt that your ex should have taken care of. However upsetting that is, you need to concentrate on your own affairs.

I suspect that the cost to the OR of forcing a sale of the french property would be too great to consider just to yield £4.5k. For a UK property, reading this board, a couple of thousand may be enough. It needs to be enough to make it worthwhile for the OR to walk away. If it isn't considered sufficient, the OR can register the charge and wait for it to be sold.

debt_doctor

Hi,


From what you say, your ex has acted in a criminal manner with regard to his bankruptcy, and his Trustee appears to be negligent.
If your ex had of cleared the debt and costs of the bankruptcy in full (which it seems could easily have happened) then you would not have had to become bankrupt.
If you wish to complain about the IP then follow this link;
https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-insolvency-practitioner


Foreign assets most definitely DO count in UK bankruptcies, but come with added complications and costs for the OR/Trustee.


In your case I would start by offering £1k.


DD

SmallTalk

Sorry for the misunderstanding ... I wrote to my ex's trustee giving them all of the facts including copies of transfer documents for his overseas property which were available from the national Land Registry etc. and they replied telling me that overseas property is exempt from UK insolvency law and all the rest of the info that I've mentioned re assets, tax, vehicles etc. I then sent a copy of the letter that I had received to my OR who wouldn't comment on the information given by the trustee - I wasn't asking them for info on my ex's bankruptcy but was merely pointing out that according to the trustee overseas property was exempt therefore why was his property exempt and mine not? There can't be one rule for one person and one rule for another. I also wrote back to the trustee to ask them to verify the information that they had given me and asked them the same question re overseas property. They told me that they would not comment further as my ex had refused to co-operate and would not supply a full list of his debtors so they were closing his case and handing it back to the OR.

Flyright

If a bankrupt fails to co-operate with the Official Receiver and any subsequently appointed trustee, then their discharge from bankruptcy should be suspended indefinitely.

If you really feel that the trustee has failed in their duty to recover assets despite pointing out what appears to be a concealment/undervalue transfer of assets then you are within your rights to complain to the Official Receiver and to the trustee's recognised professional body.

debt_doctor

Have you checked to see if his discharge from bankruptcy has been suspended indefinitely?


Have a look here;


https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/IIRRegisterNameInput.asp?option=NAME&court=ALL


DD

SmallTalk

It says: Status Discharged On 18 March 2017