www.iva.co.uk

i entered into a iva 2 years ago, one of the the people that was included in it never answered the paperwork or voted, he has come to my place this week and taken some machinery as payment for his debt. the police say this is a civil matter. aam i right in thinking even if hes does not reply or vote to the iva he is bound by the rules, and therefore has no right to take anything ? or is he ?

Hi John

once the IVA is accepted all creditors are legally bound to comply. They have no right to take away any machinery. I would call your IP immediately and let them know what has happened. They will contact this person and your machine will have to be returned. If he did not vote he is bound by the rules and like you said has no right in taking anything from you
hope you get this sorted Rich

Hope you get sorted soon x

What a cheek! They are bound by the terms of your iva so let your IP know and they can deal with the creditor. I'm not sure whether the police would normally get involved or not - maybe an expert can answer x

I wouldn't say this was a civil matter -- it is theft !!!

I'd agree with that as well. The iva is legally binding and they have no right to.take anything.

That's what I thought. So how can it not be a matter for the police?

I would imagine that they aren't aware of the ramifications of an IVA and are simply looking on it as a seizure in execution of a debt.

Yes, good point Foggy!

this is not theft as thay feel they are legally owed this amount due to there lose, it is infact a civil matter. I would contact your IVA company and take it from there if the IVA company can not get it back i woulod get confirmation that the debt is written off due to them taking this item or take them to a civil court

Hi there Angela. They might FEEL they are legally entitled to sieze goods - they are not, however, legally owed this money -- it is bound within an IVA and, as such, the debtor is protected from action by law.

In any event, you cannot go around willy nilly seizing goods without due process. To take an extreme example with PPI - if I have PPI owed to me by the Halifax, would I be within my rights to walk into one of their branches and remove a computer terminal as payment ..... I think not!

Hi

The IVA is legally binding and as such the creditor concerned can't take goods not belonging to him to offset against a debt[only a bailiff can do this via a court order]

It does actually sound like theft to me

Regards

Andy is correct - however the police will not get involved in issues like this.

Your IP needs to contact the creditor concerned and give them 48 hours to return the machinery, together with any costs you have experienced as a result of its loss to your business. They should then appoint lawyers to invervene in this if there is no response.

The creditor is acting unlawfully - but I would not be making any allegations of theft as this is likely to infuse the situation further. There may be a genuine communication error and it is always best to investigate these matters before putting the boxing gloves on.

How did they get access to the machinery as a matter of interest - and are you sure that they do not have a valid ROT claim against the items? Were they the original suppliers of the machinery?

hi all thanks for the responce,
the man in question came onto my property while i was out, he started the machine up and proceeded to drive out the guy who works for me tried to block his exit but he rammed a car and a wall and a gate to get out. the police say it is a civil matter but we have spoken to a soliceter and they seem to think that the police will re open it when they get all the relevent paperwork.
the soliciter has said to take this guy to court will cost upwords of £50000 the machine is worth £15000 and the original debt was £7500 , as far as i am concerned this is a clear cut case of theft ?. oh and one last twist to the story they were told they could not sell the machine and the very next night they reported it stolen from where they were hiding it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can they report a stolen vehicle that doesn't legally belong to them? This is all very confusing...good luck trying to untangle all this [:)]!!