The company in liquidation had sold machines on hire-purchase. It sued the finance company to recover hire-purchase agreements and other securities which it had charged to secure the repayment of advances. When the finance company relied upon the charge, the plaintiff replied that it was void because it should have been registered as a charge over book debts.
Held: If the property subject to a charge is not registered and the property remains after all the costs of the winding up and debts payable in the liquidation have been paid the property will continue to be encumbered even though the charge was not registered at Companies House. A book debt is one which could be properly entered in the books of the company whether in fact entered or not.
Judges:
Buckley J
Citations:
[1962] 1 WLR 974, [1962] 3 All ER 27
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Smith (Administrator of Cosslett (Contractors) Limited) v Bridgend County Borough Council; In re Cosslett (Contractors) Ltd HL 8-Nov-2001
The standard building contract allowed a contractor to take plant and equipment from a site and sell it in payment of sums due under the contract, upon the other contractor becoming insolvent. It was said that this power amounted to a charge over . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Company, Insolvency
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.180667
