Hand back cmpany laptop? Dilemma

BrOz

Have a bath with it then give it back. They said they want it back, the condition of it hasn't been mentioned... 

Manxman_in_exile

In the circumstances I think I'd challenge them for proof of ownership.  If I were the OP I would be interested to see if they could produce proof of their acquisition of the previous company's assets.  (I might also ask them to produce proof of the original purchase too - ie the OP's receipt and their expense claim).  I'm sure the OP can do this in a non-confrontational and reasonable way by saying something like he is sure that the new company will understand that he would like to see some sort of paper trail establishing that the new company (with which he has had no prior connection and which he does not know from Adam) is now the owner of the old company's assets, as he is understandably unwilling to just hand over somebody else's property to an unknown third party - that sort of thing.  (I'm sort of surprised that most posters here seem to assume that the new company "must" own it.  I'd want to see proof).

I'd see what they reply with.  It seems a perfectly reasonable request to me to ask them for proof that they now own it before I hand it over to them.  If they are unable to do so, but still insist on having it, I'd tell them I'm referring it to the original company's administrator for guidance.

If there were many employees using laptops at home I'm a bit surprised the administrator hasn't already contacted those employees who have them.  If the administrator hasn't traced those assets, how can they have been sold to the new company?   

mcooke999

If they've not paid your pension for the last two months, sell the laptop and pay the money into your pension 👍

Lifes_Grand_Plan

What did you do in the end OP?
I am inclined to agree with Manxman and others - its not your property so you should give it back but only once you're confident you are giving it back to the correct owners.

backwardsanddownwards

Hi all, thanks again for all comments/thoughts.

In the end, I got in touch with them to offer to buy the laptop from them.  I didn't check the transfer of ownership as I was confident that had all been carried out appropriately.  They agreed and offered it to sell it to me for £280 (the price they had "bought" it from the old company) - this is far below the true second hand value of the device, similar go for around £900 on eBay currently.  So I was happy that I hadn't "stolen" anything and had ended up with a good deal. 

Having said that, I am still waiting for an invoice from their accounts department and haven't paid them anything.

The missing pension contribution has been referred to the Insolvency Service to contribute on the old company's behalf.

Thanks again.