Seizing property in lieu of debt

godtabh

Seizing property in lieu of debt. Can you do this

Can company/person a take/withould property of company/person b if company/person b has debts with company/person a?

GerardKeating

kearnsr wrote: »

Seizing property in lieu of debt. Can you do this

Can company/person a take/withould property of company/person b if company/person b has debts with company/person a?

Not without a court order, otherwise it is stealing..

godtabh

Is there any case law or examples of this? I'm trying to see if something is worth persuing and I want to read up on it first

Jo King

GerardKeating wrote: »

Not without a court order, otherwise it is stealing..

Not necessarily. In some cases the holder of the property can have a common law lien on the property for monies owed to him. Eg. repairers of motor vehicles.

GerardKeating

Jo King wrote: »

Not necessarily. In some cases the holder of the property can have a common law lien on the property for monies owed to him. Eg. repairers of motor vehicles.

Did not notice the "withhold" first time, so was only addressing the "take" part of the question.

Most "contracts" for repairs do contain a clause to withhold or even sell the item if said repairs are not paid for with a certain time frame. Not sure if this is legal...

seamus

GerardKeating wrote: »

Most "contracts" for repairs do contain a clause to withhold or even sell the item if said repairs are not paid for with a certain time frame. Not sure if this is legal...

The concept of the lien allows a passive withholding of the item until the debt is paid. It does not however, permit the item to be sold to clear the debt.

It also requires that the item withheld and the service provided must be closely linked. I'm not sure if I can give a good example of that - perhaps imagine that I have a bike rack installed on my car which needs repairing. Instead of giving the repairer the rack, I just leave the whole car with him and go off and get a cup of coffee. If I refuse to pay him for the repair, he's not allowed hold onto the car, but he is allowed hold onto the rack. Bad example, but you get the idea.

godtabh

Its in relation a management company.

One manamgent agent is refusing to hand over documents to another until debt is paid (the debt its self is been questioned but thats a differnt story).

seamus

Probably a different scenario then. Ownership is important here. If I create something for you, I don't have to give it to you until you've paid me. Likewise, if I'm transferring ownership of something to you but you owe me for something completely unrelated, then there's nothing requiring me to transfer ownership except any kind of contract which may be in place. I can withhold transfer of ownership until the unrelated debt is repaid because I own the object.

godtabh

The objects arent owed by the management agent. They are owned by the management company.

The agent provides a service and maintains the objects (I think!)

enry

kearnsr wrote: »

Its in relation a management company.

One manamgent agent is refusing to hand over documents to another until debt is paid (the debt its self is been questioned but thats a differnt story).

Management companies seem to be able to do what they want. the quicker the property services (regulation) bill is brought into law the better.

nuac

In some cases solicitors may be allowed have a lien on documents to secure payment of unpaid fees and outlay.

Don't believe that estate management agents have that right - they are relatively new kids on the block.

godtabh

nuac wrote: »

In some cases solicitors may be allowed have a lien on documents to secure payment of unpaid fees and outlay.

Don't believe that estate management agents have that right - they are relatively new kids on the block.

Any details on this?