When should I serve a winding up petition?

[petrus5]

From a strategic point of view, when would it be the best to serve the WUP? Sooner or later? I've got the High Court seal and a hearing date, of 20/3/24. My thinking is that it might be better if I don't give him the time to react, but I'm not sure whether that would make a difference if I served the WUP, say tomorrow.

The registered address of the debtor is a space that belongs to a hospital now, so I'm not sure whether the debtor is receiving these orders. To serve the CCJ initially, the HCEO had to trace where he lived and let his landlady know. However now I've gone after his company, so I will need to serve it to his registered address.

[atticus]

Oh dear. You need to read the rules. You need to give time to react.

You need to allow a window of time after service to advertise the petition (statutory advertisement in the Gazette), and advertisement must be at least a specified number of days before the hearing.

I suggest that you study and understand the procedure now, before you get into an expensive mess. You could start by reading this, which frankly you should have done before now, given that I gave you the link in your previous thread on this topic: https://www.gov.uk/wind-up-a-company...s%20are%20sold

[petrus5]

Oh dear. You need to read the rules. You need to give time to react.

You need to allow a window of time after service to advertise the petition (statutory advertisement in the Gazette), and advertisement must be at least a specified number of days before the hearing.

I suggest that you study and understand the procedure now, before you get into an expensive mess. You could start by reading this, which frankly you should have done before now, given that I gave you the link in your previous thread on this topic: https://www.gov.uk/wind-up-a-company...s%20are%20sold

I've read the rules multiple times, it doesn't state anything about how many days prior to the hearing the WUP needs to be served. Searching on the internet, I've found that the petition will be advertised 7 days after it's been served in the Gazette. Also, it needs to be served at least 7 days before the hearing.

Now, I can serve it 7 days before the hearing, or 1 month before the hearing. That's what I'm asking, whether it'll make a difference in the way that the defendant will react. Do I want to give him ample time to react, or shall I catch him by surprise by giving him little time to do so?

[atticus]

What is your objective here? Do you want to be paid? If so, why not give as much time as possible?

[petrus5]

What is your objective here? Do you want to be paid? If so, why not give as much time as possible?

I haven't got paid after a CCJ, a stat order and an HCEO, what makes you think this guy wants to pay? Therefore, allowing him more time, will potentially allow him time to find ways to drag it. That's what I'm thinking. On the other hand, seeing such a serious action taking place, he might actually become afraid and pay up. I don't know. I was trying to weigh up the pros and cons of giving him as much time as possible vs as little as possible.

[atticus]

What do you think these cons might be?

Let's assume that your objective is to be paid, and also that this company is in a position to pay but that the director does not want to pay.

So far it has been possible to frustrate your efforts. It has been left to you to do more. This director may well know that a statutory demand is a cheap threat to make, but that the next step is so expensive that most do not take it. But you have taken that step. Why not serve the petition asap, to show that you have incurred the expense and are taking that step? If you have got everything right, the alternative to paying you will be a winding up order: the tactics that have worked so far will work no longer.

[petrus5]

What do you think these cons might be?

Let's assume that your objective is to be paid, and also that this company is in a position to pay but that the director does not want to pay.

So far it has been possible to frustrate your efforts. It has been left to you to do more. This director may well know that a statutory demand is a cheap threat to make, but that the next step is so expensive that most do not take it. But you have taken that step. Why not serve the petition asap, to show that you have incurred the expense and are taking that step? If you have got everything right, the alternative to paying you will be a winding up order: the tactics that have worked so far will work no longer.

That's a good summary and a fair conclusion. To be honest, I don't know to what extent tradesmen and the like are familiar with the law and the legal instruments that creditors have at their disposal. My initial assumption would be that they're not somewhat familiar. However, in two cases, both tradesmen have failed to pay up after all the legal avenues have been explored (e.g. CCJ, HCEO and stat demands), which leads me to believe that tradesmen are all well familiar that they're "untouchable" unless, as you say, someone is willing to cough up a large amount of money to chase it.
Agreed, since there's no escape to say now from the winding up petition, if everything is in good order, I hope that he'll have no other option but to pay, regardless of how much time is been given.