Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

[Oasis]

Hi
A few years ago I instructed solicitors to arrange a new lease on a business premises for me in my name.
For some reason a bill was never sent to me and in any case I sold the business to someone else after about 6 months.
A few days ago I received a Notice of Enforcement from Marstons regarding the solicitors fees. It appears the solicitor went to court and obtained a ccj against me. I never knew anything about this as it seems all documentation was sent to one of my old addresses.
I have in the meantime become a director of a Limited company and Marstons are attempting to enforce the judgement in my name at my Limited company address.
My question is can they do that?
I sent by email to Marstons documents showing that the Limited company pays Business rates and utility bills at the address Marstons sent the Notice of Enforcement to.
Any advice would be appreciated.

[wales01man]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

Have you given Marstons your home address ? if not this may be why they are going to the business if you own a vehicle they could clamp that wherever its parked to try and clear the debt.

[R0b]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

Is the limited company you are a director of, the same as one threat you signed the business lease in your name? If not was it another limited company or a sole trader/partnership etc.

Depending on how you answer the above will depend on what action Marstons can take.

If you signed the business lease in your name and not on behalf of a limited company, then you will be liable personally and they cannot enforce the judgment against the limited company that you are a director of. Equally if you signed on behalf of the company then the judgment can't be enforced against you personally.

If the business you signed the lease on behalf of was a sole trader then you are still liable personally.

[Oasis]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

I signed the lease in my name only as i was to be a sole trader

- - - Updated - - -

This is where things get a little more complicated.
I am living in a small room at the Limited company address (its a B&B/ Guest House)

[wales01man]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

Expect they have the right to contact you there you could ignore them or make an arrangement to pay all depends on how aggressive they are in pursuit of the debt.
Other LB members will offer advice when they log on no doubt

[Oasis]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

Thank you

[R0b]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

It is a little tricky given that you are staying in a B&B. IF the B&B is owned by the limited company, then I suppose you could write a letter to Marstons (on the company headed paper) informing them that they are not welcome to enter the property of the B&B and any attempt to do so will be deemed as trespassing and the company reserves the right to take legal action against them. Citizens advice has some useful info on bailiffs and their powers such as entering premises and taking goods etc. so may be worth having a look here.

From what I've read on bailiffs, Marstons have been instructed by the solicitors to recover the debt but that doesn't mean they have a right to enter onto property without permission which is where the letter would come in handy by explicitly refusing permission. You should then record the dates and times (CCTV even better) if they do decide to enter onto the property as this would go in your favour if the company brought a claim against them for trespassing.

Unless I'm mistaken the only other way would be for them to have a court order allowing permission to force entry and take goods, but even then they cannot take what is the company's property as that would amount to unlawful interference of goods, which the company can claim damages.

That all being said, if you have had the work done then you should really try to come to an agreement with the solicitors to pay that money back rather than avoiding it. If you do have any assets or money available then they may pursue you with further costs involved.

Have you checked your credit file to see if you have a CCJ on there?

[Oasis]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

Ive just checked my credit file and it appears a ccj was obtained against me in January 16 but at a previous address I left in May 14.

[ploddertom]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

Where are you at with this now?

[Openlaw15]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

Hi
A few years ago I instructed solicitors to arrange a new lease on a business premises for me in my name.
For some reason a bill was never sent to me and in any case I sold the business to someone else after about 6 months.
A few days ago I received a Notice of Enforcement from Marstons regarding the solicitors fees. It appears the solicitor went to court and obtained a ccj against me. I never knew anything about this as it seems all documentation was sent to one of my old addresses.
I have in the meantime become a director of a Limited company and Marstons are attempting to enforce the judgement in my name at my Limited company address.
My question is can they do that?
I sent by email to Marstons documents showing that the Limited company pays Business rates and utility bills at the address Marstons sent the Notice of Enforcement to.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Update

Notwithstanding the information below, the debt collectors can only makes claims against the company for which the liabilities were made. If the old company ceases trading then All liabilities end. If a new legal company starts under a different legal company name and even if it still sells the same products, the debt collectors cannot claim for a previous company's liability against the new company. The onus is you to prove it!
_______________________________

The law generally. I believe you can make a statutory declaration under the County Court Act 1984 as you were not aware of court proceedings. This should set the hearing back to square one via another hearing. In law you can own things personally, ie as consumer, or via sole trader business. This is one set of personal rights and liabilities, which is also known as non legal personality. On the other hand, you can have a legal personality, ie if you were running a business that's incorporated, eg a limited company. The Company transaction therefore are made via a legal personality. If the rights or liability were made as a consumer, ie not in the course of business, then all liabilities to creditors are personal debts. Vice versa to the legal company.

[Oasis]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

Documents were emailed to Marstons showing that the Limited Company are registered at the address that Marstons wanted to enforce at.
Marstons have not come to the address.
In addition I completed a form N244 and sent it off.
I have no problem paying the solicitors bill upon receipt of invoice.
I called the solicitors and they would not discuss the matter and referred me to Marstons!

[Openlaw15]

Re: Marstons chasing civil debt at Limited company address

Documents were emailed to Marstons showing that the Limited Company are registered at the address that Marstons wanted to enforce at.
Marstons have not come to the address.
In addition I completed a form N244 and sent it off.
I have no problem paying the solicitors bill upon receipt of invoice.
I called the solicitors and they would not discuss the matter and referred me to Marstons!

Look at Company Houses for information on your ex company, as it will be public record. You will find proof when your company started (incorporat/ed/ion) and ended.