Introduction

Fixed and floating charges – why are they important?

They give a lender a higher position in the queue for the net proceeds of a borrower’s assets in the event of a borrower’s insolvency.

In a decision handed down earlier today, in Willmott Growers Group Inc v Willmott Forests Limited (Receivers and Managers appointed) (in liquidation) [2013] HCA 51,  the majority of the High Court upheld the Victorian Court of Appeal’s conclusion that the liquidators of an insolvent landlord can disclaim a lease, thereby extinguishing the tenant’s leasehold interest.