[See ‘General Meeting’, ‘Members’ Voluntary Liquidation’, ‘MVL’, Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation’, ‘Liquidator’ and ‘CVL’.]

W

Walking Possession

This is also known as ‘taking control of goods’ and is a legal term used by the enforcement department of HMRC to recover goods as a way of debt repayment.

An HMRC officer will first issue a Notice of Enforcement to recover debt (after receiving a Writ of Control).

If, after seven days (excluding Sundays and Bank Holidays), the debtor has not paid, the HMRC officer can visit the premises and take control of the goods.

Once the officer arrives, they will record all valuable assets and ‘take control’. The debtor will be given a Controlled Goods Agreement (CGA) to sign. If the debtor refuses, goods can be removed immediately. The officer then has to give seven days notice of the sale.

It is usually best to agree to the CGA so goods are not removed from the premises.

If the goods stay, they must not be sold or traded – this is a criminal offence.

If the CGA is signed, the company then has seven days to pay back the debt and distraint fees. If this is not paid in that time, the officer can then remove the assets to sell at auction.

[See ‘HMRC’, ‘Controlled Goods Agreement’ and ‘CGA’.]

Went Into Liquidation …

When assessing how much to admit of a claim made by a creditor in a Liquidation, the Liquidator must apply the Rules set out in the Insolvency Rules 1986.

If it is a Compulsory Liquidation, the wording of the Rules state that the assessment should be made at the time the company “went into Liquidation”.

For example, if there is a claim in a foreign currency the exchange rate to be used is that on the date the company “went into Liquidation”. S247(2) Insolvency Act 1986 states that, in a Compulsory Liquidation/winding-up by the court this is the date of the winding-up Order.