Your legal questions answered by Fahmida Ismail, Partner at Sydney Mitchell LLP.
Q. I was buying some business premises and was within a few days of completion when the vendors went bankrupt. I had spent more than £2,000 on searches and surveys, but under bankruptcy rules the property had to be advertised in the paper for a week and another buyer came forward. How can I be certain that their offer topped mine? I am out of pocket through no fault of my own.
A. You can check what the property sold for on the Land Registry website about a month after completion. Assuming by this point that you hadn’t exchanged contracts, the trustee in bankruptcy has a duty to obtain the best possible price for the creditors in the bankruptcy. It’s very unlikely that the property was sold for less than your offer as this would have been a serious, and easily discoverable, misconduct by the trustee.
Q. My company is being chased for a debt from the late 1990’s, and since there isn't the money they are threatening me with the bailiffs. I have sub let part of a building and am concerned that they will take my tenant’s property. Can the bailiffs break into this office?
A. Have you had a County Court judgment entered against you? If not, it isn’t possible for them to instruct bailiffs. It may not even be possible to commence legal proceedings if it has been six years since the date the debt fell overdue or from the last time you acknowledged the debt. If a judgment has, however, been entered and the court subsequently issued a “Warrant of Execution” instructing the bailiffs, then they may pay you a visit, but they should only take goods that belong to you.
Q. A dividing fence panel and post in the car park of our office block has been blown down in high winds. Our deeds say it’s a party fence to be “enjoyed and repaired and kept in good order by both parties.” But the business next door refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for it. What can I do to get them to chip in?
A. You could get an estimate – preferably two – for the cost of the repairs and write to them stating that you expect them to contribute half, as per your title deeds. If they ignore the letter you could sue them for half the cost in the small claims court. It may however be worth paying for the damage yourself rather than creating hostility between you and your neighbours.
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