Wedding venue has cancelled - bankrupt. Where do I stand?

Dizzy078

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice although I'm aware I'll probably have to go see a solicitor about it at some point. My partner and I booked a venue back in august 2017 for a wedding two years later. We paid a deposit of just over 2k to secure the venue. Last month, we had an email from them stating that their temporary event license had been lost, and therefore they had to cancel the wedding. We didn't actually know that they only had temporary event license from the council as they never told us. I emailed back asking for the deposit back in full and receive don't no reply to phone, email, or letter. I even dropped round and spoke to someone who identified himself as her son and said he would ask her to contact us asap. Never happened.

I then wrote them a clear letter of events/payments and sent recorded delivery asking again for money back, stating if no reply I would proceed to go to court within 7 days. Of course no reply received and I applied online for small claims court last Wednesday. Court gives them until 1st of may to reply to them.

My partner has then sent an email today asking for money back again, and that we might drop round tomorrow to ask for cash also. We know she actually has a wedding on tomorrow and to our surprise we got a response within a few hours. In a nutshell it stated we wouldn't be getting any money back as the company was being made insolvent. We were asked not to go round tomorrow and attached was a letter from her solicitor stating the insolvency was going ahead and that court proceedings can only be made against the company and not herself. Also some stuff about slanderous/threats which I suppose other people she cancelled with have done, which doesn't surprise me given how's she handled the situation. communication has been awful. She apparently also took a deposit of similar amount 3 weeks before she sent the cancellation email out.

Anywho, back on topic, i actually found out her details and sent those to the court, not the company. I did this because I knew if the company goes bust I'm gonna have a harder time getting it back. Now the invoice the deposit was paid does have the company name on, but she said we would get some terms and conditions to sign after we sent payment - she never sent this so I haven't even read them let alone sign them.

I'm so mad because she is sitting in her beautiful house worth over a million quid easy, two flash cars on the drive, furnishings worth thousands of pounds, yet she's made her company insolvent and won't give me my hard earned 2k back! I guess she can have mortgage and finance on cars but she must have a few assets to sell. I just want my money back. Where do I stand? Any previous experiences with similar things? Will I be able to take her to court or will her solicitor argue it's got to be the company?

Oh to mention, the money was paid by bank transfer, and we don't have wedding insurance. Apparently it's in the terms and conditions advising us to get it (which as I said I never received).

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

Deastons

Dizzy078 wrote: »

Oh to mention, the money was paid by bank transfer, and we don't have wedding insurance. Apparently it's in the terms and conditions advising us to get it (which as I said I never received).

Handing over £2k without first reading the T&Cs is asking for trouble.

Aylesbury_Duck

Who did you make the bank transfer to? A personal or company account?

peachyprice

Deastons wrote: »

Handing over £2k without first reading the T&Cs is asking for trouble.

Handing over £2k and not taking out insurance is asking for trouble!

OP, if the business was a limited company putting her name on the court papers is a waste of time and money, she is not liable, the business is.

Alfrescodave

I would be round at todays wedding making a nuisance of myself - you might be offered a few hundred quid to go away.

Don't continue to sit back and wait for things to happen, you need to take action....now

unforeseen

Alfrescodave wrote: »

I would be round at todays wedding making a nuisance of myself - you might be offered a few hundred quid to go away.

Or she could let the police deal with you and the couple getting married could take legal action for you spoiling their day.

Tough choice. Suck it up or risk possible police warning and court claim.

Dizzy078

Bank transfer was made to a company account. So I think shes gonna make her company insolvent and keep my (and her other customers) money... Is there really no way to get this back through court?

Does it matter if she only had a temporary licence and was taking money for 2 years in advance? At what point does this became fraudulent...can she personally be liable to company debts?

mije1983

Dizzy078 wrote: »

Does it matter if she only had a temporary licence and was taking money for 2 years in advance? At what point does this became fraudulent...

No it doesn't matter, unless you can prove she knew that she wouldn't have a license for the date of your wedding. If she didn't know this, then it's perfectly reasonable for her to continue to take bookings even if it was only a temporary license. Have you asked why they lost their license?

Dizzy078 wrote: »

can she personally be liable to company debts?

Was it a limited company or was she a sole trader? If the latter then yes, the former then no.

steampowered

Who were you dealing with back in 2017 - an individual or this company? Have a look at who is named on the invoice and who you dealt with by email.

Also check the companies house website (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/) to see if it is actually true that the company is being put into insolvency, and, if so, what type of insolvency.

You may be able to stop it; or the company may still be trading; in which case you'd go ahead with court action.

steampowered

Dizzy078 wrote: »

Bank transfer was made to a company account. So I think shes gonna make her company insolvent and keep my (and her other customers) money... Is there really no way to get this back through court?

If she just keeps the money, then yes absolutely.

When a company is put into insolvency, its assets have to be used to pay creditors.

If she just keeps the money for herself that will be a transaction defrauding creditors contrary to s423 of the Insolvency Act 1986, and will trigger personal liability.

The difficulty that you would face is establishing whether assets were used to pay creditors or whether they went to the director personally. If the business was genuinely loss making your money may be gone.

But first - check on companies house if it is actually true that this company is in insolvency, or not. Often people say this when it isn't actually true/

kazwookie

Do as others have said and check companies house, then I would suggest thing like:-

Local newspapers
National newspapers
FB pages
Local radio etc

Most of the above love a good local news story.