Bailiff coming back this weekend !!!

shell2712

Hi,
I'm asking this for a friend (yes really) as we are in the same industry and he has asked me for advice!

He had a pub in his personal name for around 10 months. During this time he worked for a holding company and assumed they would pay all the bills (this is what he was told at the start). However, the holding company were less than honourable. Cut a long story short the business rates bill was put in to his name and a large debt accrued for which a bailiff attended a day ago and left a letter saying they would be back this weekend to seize goods.

About a month and a half ago he signed an agreement with the brewery himself and now has a new agreement in the ltd compnay name. He is still the manager there but new bills are coming in the ltd company name.

My question is ... he needs to buy some time to sort all of this out and if the bailiff comes back and takes all of his stock he wil be closed before he has really had a chance to get going over a debt he didn't think he even owed.

Does the fact the original rates bill was in his personal name and the agreement for the pub is now in a ltd company name make a difference? He is the director of the business but surely the goods in there belong to the ltd company not to him personally so couldn't be taken by them.....he is totally freaking out and i dont really know what to advise him as never had this situation before. Hes not particularly techy so i said i'd ask you lovely people on here and see if we could get some help for him...

x

sourcrates

Hi,

The thing is he would have to have proof of ownership in the form of a bill of sale, invoice, something of that nature, they will not simply take his word for it (think cant pay we`ll take it away).

Also they can force entry to business premises, with a court order, so either way he will have to think, and move really fast here.

He needs legal advice and pronto.

elsien

They don't normally go straight to seizing goods. Has he not had any previous correspondence with regards to arrears and payment plans or has he been ignoring them?

http://businessadvice.co.uk/tax-and-admin/efficiency/a-guide-to-bailiff-enforcement-procedures-for-non-payment-of-business-rates/

Can he come to some sort of arrangement to pay some off now and pay monthly installments for the rest? He does seem to risk having his car and other personal possessions seized if the bill is in his own name, so it would be worth him seeing what he is able to pay to hold them off for now, while he seeks proper advice.

Browntoa

I'm wondering if court bailiff , they wouldn't have just left to come back another day , they would have inventoried stock and fixtures indicating these would be removed on return .

Perhaps just chasing the debt and pertaining to be baliffs

shell2712

They were bailiffs but no one was on site when they attended it was 730am. He doesn't live at the site bar staff live there. Nothing in the business belongs to him personally its all in the ltd company name and he has invoices from the brewery with the company name on but he is the director of it so could they still take the businesses goods?
I know the other way around ltd company they can't take directors personal things but this is the other way around.

redux

It should be worth talking to the council about this. They can come to some other arrangement and cancel the bailiff instruction.