Shafted by maintenance company - have I lost out?

[ray-bentos]

Hello

I have for quite some time being completing subcontract work for a property maintenance company (LTD) on 30 day terms.

This has been working quite well for me providing me with a nice steady stream of work to supplement my other stuff.

I got the brilliant news today that the company in question had somehow decided that as of Friday last week they were insolvent. I'm unsure of the exact people involved (my knowledge on these matters isn't great, hence the questions), however my understanding is that they are now in the process of being liquidated (their permanent staff have been laid off and vans and other assets are being returned/disposed of)


Luckily the previous month has been a bit of a quiet one so their 'account' with me was less than usual however they still owe me £1800 as of this point.debt


My basic question, since I know nothing about this, is what is the process from here on out? Is it likely that I will be waving bye-bye to my money?


This is hugely frustrating for me as I am only a sole-trader and, although unlikely to bankrupt me, I really will feel the loss of that income badly.


What's even more annoying is that they must have known this was on the horizon, yet had me doing a couple of small jobs last week as well as quoting for some larger works.



Sorry, rant over! :63:

 

[Marvo]

Sorry to hear that Ray. Have a look at this thread, not sure if your company is linked or not but there may be some relevant advice.

 

[ray-bentos]

No it's not these companies, it was a small local company who I had actually built quite a rappor with up until now.

They were a small team, basically of handymen however subcontracted work to myself for electrics, as well as a plumber and a couple of other trades (roofer, plasterer, etc...)

Shame as I had subbed for them for over 2 years and things were going well, paid on time and generally didn't question invoices or quotes.

Guess nothing lasts forever......

 

[ray-bentos]

Just annoyed at the untimely demise, they must have known they were going down the pan

As well as my money of course

 

[Richard Burns]

Find out who is managing the liquidation and get your claim in as soon as possible as an outstanding debt.
Tax man of course comes first in line but outstanding debts should be fairly high up the list. It may be a partial payout but it might be something.
Also if you have a good arrangement with them try and contact them directly and see if a payment might slip out of the system?

 

[dansk]

To be honest they may not have known, it maybe one of their big customers went bust and that creates a chain reaction if the company your working for can't carry the hit.

if they where paying your bills on time I'd suspect they didn't see this coming, normally late payment is the warning sign.

in my experience once the banks are paid off and other creditors then if there is anything left in the pot you might get something like 10p in each pound owed.

Write it off against your tax and keep been cautious in the future.

sorry to hear your bad news.

 

[snowhead]

Tax man of course comes first in line but outstanding debts should be fairly high up the list. It may be a partial payout but it might be something.

It's no longer the Taxman first.

Administrators of the Winding up.
Secured loans
Employees
Other creditors, Suppliers Subbies etc, Including HMRC
Lastly shareholders.

The O.P will be lucky to get between 1p and 10p in the £ owed.

Several sole traders I knew, lost between £30k and £80k each from a company I used to work for.
Some of those then went into Bankruptcy

 

[Octopus]

And watch out for a "new" business rising from the "ashes" of the liquidated one - and don't touch them with a barge pole.