Personal guarantor for Ltd co - advice needed

Jeems

Background:

I set up a UK ltd co many years ago with a partner. We had a biz bank account which we both signed up to act as personal guarantors.

I resigned as director in 2012 and lost contact with my old partner a few years back. I also emigrated from the UK in 2018.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I received some letters from the bank reminding me I was still guarantor (a 12 year gap in comms).

Shortly after, I received a demand for debt owed (not a huge amount, in the hundreds) as my old partner had gone into arrears.

I did recall letting the bank know at the time I had resigned and to remove me as a signatory and guarantor. They confirmed I was no longer a signatory (hence couldnt discuss with me on the phone, ironically).

Would appreciate if anyone has faced a similar situation before and how best to resolve.

sourcrates

Do you still live abroad?

I suspect the limitation act would apply here, 6 years is the limitation period.

You were essentially a guarantor for these debts, however certain rules apply, business debt is not my specific area, but from what I can gather creditors must bring claims for personal guarantees within the statutory limitation period:

• Breach of Contract: Six years from the date of breach.
• Deed: Twelve years from the date of breach.

If you reside outside of the UK none of this will be enforced, and as it appears time has run out to do so anyway you can either write and tell them the debt is statute barred or just continue to ignore.

Jeems

sourcrates said:

Do you still live abroad?

I suspect the limitation act would apply here, 6 years is the limitation period.

You were essentially a guarantor for these debts, however certain rules apply, business debt is not my specific area, but from what I can gather creditors must bring claims for personal guarantees within the statutory limitation period:

• Breach of Contract: Six years from the date of breach.
• Deed: Twelve years from the date of breach.

If you reside outside of the UK none of this will be enforced, and as it appears time has run out to do so anyway you can either write and tell them the debt is statute barred or just continue to ignore.

Thanks for your reply. I still live abroad yes. From what I can gather though, the debt was incurred within the last 6 months. So not statute barred? They mentioned they'd report the default to the various credit agencies if I didn't pay...and I may look to buy a rental property at some point...

sourcrates

Rental property in the UK?

This will only affect your UK credit file, if its already defaulted then the damage to your credit is already done, and paying it off won`t change that, up to you how you proceed now, I guess a few hundred quid won`t be an issue to pay off?