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

Much too late now, but why on earth did you pay by bank transfer? Using a credit card would have made the card provider liable.
It's pointless to sue an individual with whom you have no contract: her company is a separate legal entity to herself.
It's equally pointless to sue a company if there are no assets in it.

Dizzy078 wrote: »

Many thanks for reply steampowered - I have now submitted an objection to companies house. Can I ask why do you think they would want to strike off the company rather than make it insolvent? In what ways would it benefit her? She is still trading too - she held a wedding at the house yesterday and she did say she would honour all weddings until June 2018.

Well done on submitting the objection, hopefully that will put a stop to the strike-off process.

No doubt she has gone down the strike-off route because it is the easiest way to close down a company.

The more important question for you is whether she is still trading through that company, and whether the company still owns any assets.

If you have reason to believe that this company is still trading and that it still owns assets, you could consider going ahead and open court proceedings immediately (tonight), probably naming the company and the individual as joint defendants.

I think you have good reason to dispense with serving a 'letter before action' in these circumstances.

If you get a CCJ, get HCEOs round there immediately. This could well be throwing good money after bad; you'd have to accept you would only have a 50/50 chance of getting the money. But it could be worth a punt.

If you have evidence to show the company is still trading (the company, not the director personally) you could also report this to the Insolvency Service (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reporting-misconduct-by-companies-directors-and-bankrupts-to-the-insolvency-service/), as the abuse of the strike-off procedure here is pretty blatent. The form says in black and white you can't strike-off if the company has been trading in the past 3 months.

dizzy078 wrote: »

Thanks for your continued help on this. I have actually already filed a small claims court case against the director personally on the 12th of April - I want to change this to add the company too. I have attempted to phone the court all morning to ask how to do this but they're not answering. I've emailed them and it says expect a response within 5 days!

You would need the court's permission to add an additional claimant. You apply for permission using form N244, for which I believe the fee is £255 - more than the fee you paid to start the claim. It may also effectively 'reset' the time the defendant has to respond to the claim.

Personally, I would sit tight for now. Once you either get default judgment or receive a defence, which should happen during the next few days, you can then make an educated decision what to do next in terms of the court process.

I will look into reporting her to the insolvency service. Can her actions make her personally liable for the company debts? Who would decide this? It is clear she is still trading. From the Bassetlaw council website she has had two temporary event licences granted this year, on the 23rd of March and 21st of April. In a letter she has said she will honour weddings until June.

If the company is still trading, it was an offence to submit a striking-off application. This in itself doesn't trigger personal liability but it adds pressure and helps build a picture.

If company assets were moved from the company to her name without paying the company the proper price for them (and the company using that to pay creditors), that would trigger personal liability - but you probably don't have enough information to say whether this was the case or not. As the 2016 accounts indicated that the company's debt exceeded its assets the company may well have been genuinely insolvent.

Interesting re: the council website. Does the council website say in what name the event licence was granted? This would be helpful evidence if you need to get bailiffs/HCEOs involved. It is also helpful for objecting to companies house if the licences were issued in the name of the company, as it proves that the company has been trading in the past 3 months so cannot be struck off.