The Compendium

• in England and Wales, execution or other process issued on a judgment, decree or order of any court in favour of a creditor of the company is returned unsatisfied in whole or in part; or
• in Scotland, the induciae of a charge for payment on an extract decree, or an extract registered bond, or an extract registered protest, have expired without payment being made; or
• in Northern Ireland, a certificate of unenforceability has been granted in respect of a judgment against the company, or
• it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that the company is unable to pay its debts as they fall due.

When statutory wording, such as sections 239-240 Insolvency Act 1986 state that in order to take an action for a preference an officeholder must show that the company was ‘insolvent’ at the time of the transaction, or rendered insolvent due to it, it is to this definition of insolvency that an Insolvency Practitioner will turn.

[See ‘Insolvency Act’, ‘Preference’ and ‘Company’.]

Tenants in Common

Tenants in Common can have different percentages of interest in the same property (in other words, they do not all own an equal amount of the whole property).

For example, four owners who are Tenants in Common can take title with any combination of interest totalling 100 percent. A can have 30%, B can have 15%, C can have 40% and D can have 15%.

Tenants in Common can also pass on, or deed interest to, another person and then all of the original owners plus the new grantee will remain as Tenants in Common.

There is no ‘Right of Survivorship’ as there is with Joint Tenants (where the title automatically transfers to the other owner), so the Tenant in Common can sell or will their interest to anyone they wish.

If the property is not considered to be exempt (in other words, it vests in a Trustee in Bankruptcy), the court can force the sale of the home and seize the