Submitting a petition to wind up a company

[petrus5]

A joiner delivered part of the job, and I sent him a pre-action letter from my solicitor. I submitted an MCOL for £10,000 and won the case (he didn't bring any evidence or reply for that matter).

I then hired a HCEO who traced his address, didn't find any directors, but found his old landlady and handed her the NOE.

Allegedly he caught wind of what happened and called the HCEO and said he'd arrange a payment. That was one month ago.

I've also submitted an Order for Questioning, but mistakenly sent it to the MCOL court, instead of his local court. I resent it to the right court.

I then served him with a statutory demand, using a process server. Still nothing.

Now, I'm about to send the paperwork to his nearest court to wind up his company. In CH, last year's accounts show some £150k in assets (mostly cash in the bank). Therefore I assume, that he's still trading and should have cash to pay back.

Btw, his address in CH is a virtual address, meaning that there used to be an office there, but there isn't one anymore -the address belongs to a hospital now.

I feel I've taken all the right steps towards this, but please let me know if you see any gaps in the process.

One thing I noticed in the Form Comp1, under (n) Insert name of witness
The phrase reads

(n) For the reasons stated in the witness statement of [Name of creditor] filed in support hereof, it is considered that:

Does this mean that I need to submit a witness statement as well? Based on my understanding of gov.uk's page there's no such need.

[atticus]

Yes. A supporting statement is needed.

Are you aware of the procedure and of the fees and Official Receiver's deposit you will need to pay? The total can easily be £3,000 if not more.

https://www.gov.uk/wind-up-a-company...owes-you-money

[petrus5]

A joiner delivered part of the job, and I sent him a pre-action letter from my solicitor. I submitted an MCOL for £10,000 and won the case (he didn't bring any evidence or reply for that matter).

I then hired a HCEO who traced his address, didn't find any directors, but found his old landlady and handed her the NOE.

Allegedly he caught wind of what happened and called the HCEO and said he'd arrange a payment. That was one month ago.

I've also submitted an Order for Questioning, but mistakenly sent it to the MCOL court, instead of his local court. I resent it to the right court.

I then served him with a statutory demand, using a process server. Still nothing.

Now, I'm about to send the paperwork to his nearest court to wind up his company. In CH, last year's accounts show some £150k in assets (mostly cash in the bank). Therefore I assume, that he's still trading and should have cash to pay back.

Btw, his address in CH is a virtual address, meaning that there used to be an office there, but there isn't one anymore -the address belongs to a hospital now.

I feel I've taken all the right steps towards this, but please let me know if you see any gaps in the process.

One thing I noticed in the Form Comp1, under (n) Insert name of witness
The phrase reads

(n) For the reasons stated in the witness statement of [Name of creditor] filed in support hereof, it is considered that:

Does this mean that I need to submit a witness statement as well? Based on my understanding of gov.uk's page there's no such need.

Yes, I'm aware of the fees but I'm willing to take it to the end. The fees will be added to the debt anyway, should I be successful.

With regard to the supporting statement, it's not mentioned anywhere in the checklist of gov.uk though, so one could very well omit it. What should be written in it? Just a description of what has happened, and why I want to wind up the company I suppose?

[atticus]

Almost invariably, if your petition leads to a winding up order being made you will have failed in collecting on the debt.

Your best hope is that the service of a petition leads to settlement. It's a gamble with an expensive buy in to the table.

Your statement is formal proof of the debt. It is a requirement. Look at other sites - do a search for "winding up petition procedure".

[petrus5]

Almost invariably, if your petition leads to a winding up order being made you will have failed in collecting on the debt.

Interesting. What makes you say that?

[atticus]

Experience.

[petrus5]

Fair. However wound up companies that have cash do have to pay their debts, right? And I have a CCJ that confirms that debt.

[atticus]

By all means proceed, but (a) do so with a full understanding that your receiving payment is uncertain, and (b) make sure that you fully understand the procedure.

[petrus5]

Following up on this, what do I need to write in the witness statement?

Do I need to state the facts again from the beginning e.g. how much I paid, what we agreed, emails etc? All these were in the CCJ that I won, so all that information shouldn't be new.

On the other hand, I could just state what has happened after the CCJ has been issued, i.e. that I've tried to chase him with an HCEO and he hasn't paid.