Summary and implications

The court has clarified that administrators must pay rent as an expense of the administration when they use property.

The High Court has recently held* that:

Summary and implications

Two recent cases involving company administrations have seen the court take very different approaches to an administrator’s demands. The court has shown that it will look at the overall purpose of the administration before deciding whether to allow administrators to use their powers. Clients should consider:

Summary and implications

Whilst the property market remains challenging, the possibility of landlords entering into administration increases and many redevelopment schemes have been put on hold.

Following concerns expressed by the Insolvency Service and reports showing that corporate insolvency costs are higher in the UK than other European countries, the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) has announced that it will conduct a market study into the UK corporate insolvency market. The study will also look into the process for appointing insolvency practitioners. The OFT will be contacting key players in the market directly, and other interested parties are invited to make submissions.

Market studies

At long last, amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and theCompanies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) have come into force, providing licensees of intellectual property (IP) with some additional level of protection.

Amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) have recently come into force that purportedly protect licensees of intellectual property (IP) if their licensors become insolvent or bankrupt. There are, however, a number of uncertainties surrounding the scope of protection afforded by these amendments. Until these uncertainties are resolved, licensees may wish to consider augmenting their statutory rights by contractual and other legal mechanisms. A Bankruptcy Remote Entity (BRE) is one potential mechanism.

Summary and implications

Now, more than at any other time of this economic cycle, landlords are faced with the prospect of dealing with tenants who have entered one of the various stages of insolvency and require straightforward solutions to bring their tenancy to an end. Often landlords wish to;

In Canada, there is more than one insolvency regime available to an insolvent company that wishes to restructure its debts and operations. However, the most commonly used regime for large companies ? and sometimes for smaller companies, because it is the most flexible ? is the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) (CCAA). The most commonly used regime for smaller companies or less complicated restructurings is proposal proceedings under theBankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada) (BIA).

CCAA

The PPF has issued a good practice guide for trustees of schemes with an insolvent employer, which is aimed at taking them through the assessment period effectively and efficiently and which takes into account the PPF's experience of the common issues experienced by trustees during an assessment period.

There has been no shortage of victims in this financial crisis. Pensions and retirement savings have been severely reduced, jobs have been lost and once powerful financial institutions have failed. But, there is, perhaps, another victim that has largely gone unnoticed: the rule of law.

In his Evil Empire speech before the British House of Commons in June 1982, President Ronald Reagan refocused American political values on the rule of law.