Owing money to a company in liqudation

[EddieSteadyGo]

JPJPJP said:

Sounds like the Administrator / Liquidator or whatever it is that is charging £820 an hour is doing it's job by getting in as much of the book debts owed to the company as possible.

I thought there was a formula for liquidator fees to avoid a situation where an administrator could be appointed who then awards themselves unreasonable fees? £820 / hr surely isn't right

Would be interested to see Alpinestars perspective on this.

[Countdown]

JPJPJP said:

Sounds like the Administrator / Liquidator or whatever it is that is charging £820 an hour is doing it's job by getting in as much of the book debts owed to the company as possible.

What happens to the money that you paid in respect of a legitimate debt shouldn't really leave a bitter taste for you - though I can see why it could

Agree with the first comment.

In relation to the "bitter taste", I'm not sure why it would. OP owed £14k, OP paid £14k (less deductions). The only reason for a bitter taste (afaics) would be if OP hoped to pay little or nothing and instead was surprised to find out that the Administrators have teeth and are prepared to use them.

[Countdown]

EddieSteadyGo said:

I thought there was a formula for liquidator fees to avoid a situation where an administrator could be appointed who then awards themselves unreasonable fees? £820 / hr surely isn't right

Would be interested to see Alpinestars perspective on this.

Indeed. that's pretty much a Partner's hourly rate.

[essayer]

EddieSteadyGo said:

I thought there was a formula for liquidator fees to avoid a situation where an administrator could be appointed who then awards themselves unreasonable fees? £820 / hr surely isn't right

Would be interested to see Alpinestars perspective on this.

No, it would be one partner, one junior, three assistants, plus some telephone calls, letters, etc
easy to get to 14k

here's an example


(this is from 10 years ago)

Edited by essayer on Thursday 27th September 11:14

[Alpinestars]

cheekymeerkat said:

So today, I paid most of the £14k (minus deduction for faulty goods), I'll have to see if they disagree with that, but they have most of their money.
They threatened a winding up order, and as far as I know, this can destroy a company once advertised in the Gazette, even if we have the means to pay.

This thread was interesting because there was a big split of opinion, I'll let you know my reason for preferring to withhold payment. I was advised the only money left would be swallowed by administrators fee's, and there was a preferential secure loan for the PE tts who ran the previously always profitable company in to the ground with their arrogance after just 2 years at the wheel. It caused me a hell of a lot of bother sourcing new suppliers, and all the admin involved.

Administrators fee's were down as £820 PER HOUR, plus disbursements which were just as high as they hire other "professionals" at high hourly rates on top. All staff were fully paid up before redundancy.

My position would be that you owe the money. What the recipient does with it should not be your concern.

If everyone took the view of not paying, the legitimate creditors of the company would be left out of pocket. I assume the secured creditor has appointed a liquidator/administrator in the case of your supplier. Why is how they choose to spend their money recovering their debt your concern?

[EddieSteadyGo]

essayer said:

EddieSteadyGo said:

I thought there was a formula for liquidator fees to avoid a situation where an administrator could be appointed who then awards themselves unreasonable fees? £820 / hr surely isn't right

Would be interested to see Alpinestars perspective on this.

No, it would be one partner, one junior, three assistants, plus some telephone calls, letters, etc
easy to get to 14k

here's an example


(this is from 10 years ago)

Ah, I see. Thanks!

[sleepezy]

cheekymeerkat said:

Administrators fee's were down as £820 PER HOUR, plus disbursements which were just as high as they hire other "professionals" at high hourly rates on top. All staff were fully paid up before redundancy.

But presumably you support this...

After all if you had just paid the amount you owe (and I fully accept a counter claim may be valid but, per your posts, you've agreed a significant balance was due and overdue for that matter) then the administrator or their collection agents would not have had to waste time taking it all the way up threatening a winding up petition.

I fail to see the logic in complaining about what you consider to be excessive charges while simultaneously ensuring those costs are being incurred.

OK, I am being tongue in cheek but can you see the point?

And if you really want to know how all the costs are built up have a look at the legislation. The amount of reporting is onerous (and doesn't come free to prepare) and consider that there is no 'de minimis' on distributions. An administrator is not allowed to ignore a distribution no matter how small it is - so they regularly get into a stupid position of having to send cheques for minimal amounts despite the costs of doing so.

[anonymous-user]

A more recent guide to fees can be had by looking, for instance, at Maplin

PwC in preparing for the administration was at £1.25m for 3,074 hours = £406 per hour on average

[Alpinestars]

JPJPJP said:

A more recent guide to fees can be had by looking, for instance, at Maplin

PwC in preparing for the administration was at £1.25m for 3,074 hours = £406 per hour on average

Correct. The law does not prescribe set rates, but they can be fixed to “something”.

The big 4 will have rates up to £1,250 an hour for specialist partner input, eg tax. And a typical Big 4 partner IP’s rate is c£900/hour.

[EddieSteadyGo]

Alpinestars said:

The big 4 will have rates up to £1,250 an hour for specialist partner input, eg tax. And a typical Big 4 partner IP’s rate is c£900/hour.

Gulp....

[dmsims]

EddieSteadyGo said:

Alpinestars said:

The big 4 will have rates up to £1,250 an hour for specialist partner input, eg tax. And a typical Big 4 partner IP’s rate is c£900/hour.

Gulp....

Makes going to see a medical consultant privately an absolute bargain!

[Jamiesinger]

I’d sit in the money and wait on the administrators getting in touch. Put it in aside I care anyone comes knocking but there’s a big chance you have got away with it.

Treat yourself in a year or so to a new car.

[anonymous-user]

Jamiesinger said:

I’d sit in the money and wait on the administrators getting in touch. Put it in aside I care anyone comes knocking but there’s a big chance you have got away with it.

Treat yourself in a year or so to a new car.

You didn’t read the whole thread before posting that did you