Limited company proposal to strike off - active complaint he has goods and money

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Hi

 

I have a long running problem with a local limited company. His latest attempt to get out of it is to resign as sole director and let the company get struck off, its now showing proposal to strike off!

 

He has over £3000 of my money and the asset how do I deal with this, can I still take the company to court? I was hoping the fact he isn't winding the company up "properly" and taken all the assets and capital out of the company would mean he is guilty of wrongful trading and that I could go after him personally?

 

Or am I best trying to get the faulty goods back and cutting my losses? Urgent advice please!

[unclebulgaria67]

Not an expert on this, so hope others will respond.

 

Can you not challenge the strike off with companies house and as a sole director of this limited company, they would still have liability.

 

Once you had stopped the strike off, you could issue a court claim against the company.

 

Is it worth searching for current CCJ's against this company, to help with any challenge re strike off ? I believe you can search online for CCJ's held against companies. If there are existing CCJ's, it might also inform you whether the company is likely to have assets to pay people.

 

I take it that you were supplied with faulty goods, which you returned to the trader for repair ? Is this business still open ?

[AndyOrch]

http://www.informdirect.co.uk/business-management/strike-off-company-with-ds01-form/

 

Valid reasons for objecting

The company has not complied with the conditions of the application to strike off. For example, it would be valid cause for objection if the company has traded or changed its name during the 3 months before the application to strike off or afterwards.

The directors have not informed interested parties of the proposed strike off

One or more of the declarations on form DS01 is false

The company has wrongfully traded

The directors have committed tax fraud or another type of offence

Action is being undertaken, or is pending, to recover money owed from the company. This might, for example, be via a winding-up petition or through the small claims court.

Legal action of any other kind is being taken against the company

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Not an expert on this, so hope others will respond.

 

Can you not challenge the strike off with companies house and as a sole director of this limited company, they would still have liability.

 

Once you had stopped the strike off, you could issue a court claim against the company.

 

Is it worth searching for current CCJ's against this company, to help with any challenge re strike off ? I believe you can search online for CCJ's held against companies. If there are existing CCJ's, it might also inform you whether the company is likely to have assets to pay people.

 

I take it that you were supplied with faulty goods, which you returned to the trader for repair ? Is this business still open ?

 

Yes it was for a car that was supplied from a trader. I'll send a letter opposing the strike off now! (Companies House didn't suggest that when I complained to them, very helpful!)

 

I cannot find any other action online against this company, it was a small trader with a handful of cars so I think he's going to pop back up once the heat has gone so to speak. Given that he must've taken the capital and assets out before "walking" I wonder if this would constitute wrongful trading so his limited liability protection would go and I could go after him personally? I suppose I could mention this on the court papers and let the judge decide on that aspect as well?

 

He's also pulled his website.

[unclebulgaria67]

What would you do in this situation ?

 

Think i would be tempted to try to recover the faulty goods, if a repair is possible by someone else. At least you have them secured, as you believe the trader has no intention in repairing or returning,

 

Then get an estimate to repair and a report on condition.

 

Check for current CCJ's against the company.

 

If appropriate issue a court claim against the company.

 

Then oppose the strike off.

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Yeah trouble is it's not an insignificant repair which is why he's being awkward plus it's not the only fault just the one that made it go bang. I suspect that unless I am able to bring the claim against him personally then I suspect it's a hiding to nothing but it's probably worth a try for the court costs because otherwise the car is really only scrap as it stands.

 

Also we don't have anywhere to put the thing as no private driveway nor garage only communal parking away from the house so we'd then be in bother with some kind of insurance and possibly taxing it even tho it wouldn't be driven I guess it's technically then on the road so to speak and if we get it recovered to another garage we'll be in a position of if we're not paying for the repair probably over a grand then it's storage or only recoverying scrap value.

 

Really hard decision either way, it's the first time i've spent significant money on a car and then because of an insurance payout previously as wouldn't normally have £500 let alone £3000.

 

Going to be a tough decision whatever. I've contacted the garage he uses to find out what they want to fix it as it's not owned by him then I can take that quote elsewhere locally I guess then see what GF will charge to go get it.

 

Will stick to the usual £200 cars in future at least when one of those goes bang you just throw it away lol.

 

Thanks to all the replies you've been great. If anyone does happen to know how the rules on wrongful trading and personal liability works i'd be really interested to here an opinion on it.

 

Thanks again

[steampowered]

It sounds like this director may well have engaged in wrongful trading. The problem is that wrongful trading claims can only be brought by a liquidator. If you want to bring a wrongful trading claim, you would need to arrange for the company to be put into insolvent liquidation and for a qualified insolvency practitioner to assist in bringing the claim against the director. I doubt there are enough assets in this company to pay for that - so, you would need to pay. This would probably all cost more than the car is worth.

 

However, as a creditor you can bring a claim on the basis of this piece of legislation - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/423 - which deals with transactions defrauding creditors. As a creditor of the company, you should receive any left in the company before it is wound up. If the director has simply paid the 3k to himself to avoid paying you, that would be a transaction defrauding creditors. In this case you could ask the court to order that he pays that money to you under s423 of the Insolvency Act.

 

I agree that you should object to the strike-off. You may be expected to demonstrate that you are taking action to pursue this (e.g. by filing a court claim).

 

You can initiate a court claim using the moneyclaimonline service, naming both the company and the individual as defendants.

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I've written to the garage that hold the car asking for a full report on it, i've written to oppose the striking off.

 

So bringing the claim to small claims court which i'm doing this week just trying to get the wording correct for the "paperwork"

 

So to start off with I describe the situation, the fact after many faults and catastrophic breakdown I rejected the car under SOGA, is it worth mentioning the fact that the car was misrepresented as per CPR as he said "everything works" as well? Then finish off by mentioning the insolvency act as you suggest? I presume I describe the facts that alludes to wrongful trading ie taking all the capital and assets and "running" with them (he hasn't gone anywhere just figure of speech) All of that on the small claims court paperwork?

 

I also took what he said about warranty and the fact everything worked and the fact he didn't buy "useless warranties" he backed the car himself as he was giving me a personal guarantee but I imagine proving that is going to be nigh on impossible?

 

Any further advice on that lot and I will get the claim in before Friday.

 

Thanks again to everyone, I don't do well under stress for various reasons but I'm blowed if i'm letting him get away with this by walking away.

[steampowered]

If you are only issuing against the company, your claim can be fairly straightforward. You need to be specific about what went wrong with the car and that you rejected it.

 

I wouldn't bother referring to his statement that everything 'works well' as you can't prove this and it doesn't really add anything to your claim.

 

If you want to claim against the individual, you need to be very very specific about the basis for doing that, which is that there was a 'transaction defrauding creditors' as referred to in section 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986. Talking about wrongful trading is not helpful because this is not a wrongful trading claim (wrongful trading claims can only be made by insolvency practitioners). You would need to describe the 'transaction defrauding creditors' which you believe to be occur.

 

Do be aware that a report written by the garage may not be admissible as evidence, as any 'expert evidence' would need court permission (applied for through the directions questionnaire, which comes later) and in small claims would normally need to be jointly appointed by both parties to the dispute.

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Smashing i'll type it up tomorrow and post it for comments then lodge it with MCOL

 

I was only really asking the garage for the cost etc to find out how much it'd cost to fix rather than to put in front of the court from what's been said it won't be any less than £1000 as it's gearbox related (auto) and it's already been stripped down, I did a hunt online a used auto box full is between £400-£1300 then it'll be plus labour so just me guessing at this stage but thought just for peace of mind i'd contact the garage to find out if it was worth repairing then selling to recover the money.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Disgruntled_Employee
grammar

[steampowered]

If you are just asking the garage to quote as to how much it would cost you to sort this out, that should be fine.

 

You would only need to follow the process for introducing an expert report if you are trying to introduce scientific/technical evidence to assist the court (e.g. by getting a mechanic to confirm the state of the car) - there are controls around this in order to make sure that the person providing the report is neutral.

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Got a letter today confirming strike off is on hold until mid April at least, if I send them evidence of court action they are happy to extend.

 

Finally feels like a small victory. Submitted the claim on MCOL this evening £105 well spent I hope!

 

Thanks for everyone's advice. I have reams of emails printed off as I communicated everything with him via email so can prove the car was faulty the same day due to the time stamps on the emails and I have his letters where he admits he is resigning as director and walking away. So fingers crossed should stuff him soon

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Countdown now to see if he replies or if I can go straight to judgement. Given the "clever" moves he's pulled so far i'm thinking he'll not reply because he thinks he's hiding behind the limited liability. I've listed both him and the company as co-defendants and mentioned the Insolvency act as above so we shall see what happens next! The second the 14 days rolls around and I can hit that default judgement button I shall do so.

 

More to follow...

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Very interesting i've had a reply from the garage. They're trying to stick me with £7/week storage charges which is all irrelevant as far as I am concerned as the car was rejected in July as mentioned above.

 

Some interesting admissions in the letter that I will be presenting to the court:

 

1. He has admitted the dealer settled their bills in full before mucking about like this

2. They've admitted they haven't even TOUCHED the car, they say they've diagnosed a flywheel problem (it's an auto) and a torque converter problem now i'm not sure how they can claim they know that it's those 2 things without having dismantled the car.

3. They admit as much in the next sentance when they want £300 up front to dismantle and diagnose the problem

 

Now i'm thinking that this proves the defendant is a liar as he has promised on multiple occassions that there would be photos and that the damage was caused by the user error and you can tell by the damage caused.

 

Any thoughts on this? The letter doesn't state without prejudice or anything so i'm thinking it'd be good to present to the court to prove what the dealer has said to me in writing is all lies.

 

If anyone could make suggestions that'd be great

[Disgruntled_Employee]

2 more days until I can go for default judgement

[Disgruntled_Employee]

I've today had letters from the court saying the papers were "returned as un-served" now this is the last contact address I have for the company and for him personally AND it's still the registered address with companies house and it's on all the letters I've received so I presume this would be enough evidence to present to the court and then just go for judgement tomorrow anyway? It says the papers are considered served and as the company is registered to this address and it was/is the last address I have for him personally too I assume from this I just go ahead and apply for judgement against him now? Any advice on this would be really great asap as I can apply tomorrow for default judgement.

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Oh i've just done some digging around and it looks like the address i've got is his trading address which is registered with companies house as the only address. Having done some nice internet digging I have found their home address and the phone number, just called it (anonymously) and I got an answerphone message confirming they live there it mentions him and his wife's name so it must be their current address. Now advice please, as the papers are deemed served do I go for default judgement as he told me that I could still contact him at that address or do I re-serve the court papers to the limited company and him personally at his HOME ADDRESS?? I've had practice in the past at hunting people down online so i'm rather good at it and the home address is only 5 minutes away from his work address AND him and his wife were both directors at one point and the answer phone mentioned both names so i'm 99.99999% sure I have the right people AND I have checked land reg and they own the house (joint). So advice please on best next action

[steampowered]

I would serve the papers at his actual address. If you get a default judgment and then try to enforce it, you will end up in a situation where he tries to get the default judgment set aside on the basis that he didn't receive the papers.

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Cheers, I thought that but I thought i'd best check as it met the test for them having been served as to the registered address and he's used that address as his correspondence address to himself with companies house too.

 

Anyway i've triple checked this other address and the same 2 names who were directors have come up on 3 separate times so im pretty sure its both of them, paperwork back to the court in the post tonight with the amended address. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he gets the papers served as he presumably thinks he's gotten away with it so far.

 

Can't believe hes moved it to the garage and they want £7/day storage from me now on top of a broken car

[Disgruntled_Employee]

I posted the paperwork back to the court to be resealed to the new address i've located so should hopefully get it back asap, thanks for the advice

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Ok paperwork went back to the court and came back to me resealed, i've now posted it to the new researched address and sent N215 notice of service to the court. I've just checked and the paperwork has been signed for at the new address by the currect surname so I have the recorded delivery slip and PoD stapled together just in case they don't file a defence and later go striking out any judgement on the grounds they didn't receive the documents.

 

So hopefully we are all systems go now be nice if he now loses his nerve and pays up to make it all go away. If not I can now prove in court

 

The car was faulty before I collected it despite being assured it was fully working

He has lied about getting the car in to the garage

He has lied about the fault and cause of breakdown

He has lied that the garage has said the breakdown is my fault

He has lied that the car has been dismantled and diagnosed

He has also in writing admitted that I did reject the car under SOGA

 

and lots of other stuff that I have in writing, hopefully it'll all be sorted one way of the other soon

[Disgruntled_Employee]

ARRRGH HELP HELP HELP URGENT!!

 

I have just had a letter that not only the company is defunct but now that he is PERSONALLY bankrupt too, this is from a bankruptcy practitioner.

 

I'm guessing my best bet would be to try and retrieve the broken car now quickly and minimise my losses that way? I haven't said anything to this guy but I presume if I say the car was rejected in June then he's going to want it as an asset of the company and I will get even less than that??

 

Someone please advise as a matter of urgency!

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Oh can someone help as the garage are trying to claim £7 a DAY storage fees from me now as the dealer dumped the car on their forecourt and obviously I don't feel I should be paying it as I didn't put it there

[unclebulgaria67]

Oh can someone help as the garage are trying to claim £7 a DAY storage fees from me now as the dealer dumped the car on their forecourt and obviously I don't feel I should be paying it as I didn't put it there

 

You are not responsible for storage fees as you have entered no agreement. But now you know where it is, you should get it retrieved. The garage cannot stop you retrieving in an attempt to obtain money and if they attempt this call the Police. Whoever collects it should take the V5 reg doc.

 

You will have to register any debt owing with their insolvency practioner. There should be a process for this, which i am not sure about. It might be worth finding out which court is dealing with it, so you can check the details.

[Disgruntled_Employee]

The keys V5 etc are all with the car unfortunately. Will give GF a call tomorrow and see if they can retrieve it then see what money we can recover from it