Following an independent review of HMRC’s loan charge the UK Government has announced that there will be a number of changes to the loan charge, which in some cases will include repayment. Not only will some directors be able to claim back payments made in settlement, others will be able to take advantage of more flexible ways to pay. In brief, the notable changes are: the loan charge will not apply to outstanding loans made before…

Happy New year to all of our blog readers! With the start of a new decade, we are giving our restructuring and insolvency blog a fresh new look and name: Restructuring GlobalView. Restructuring GlobalView will provide readers with unique perspectives on restructuring and insolvency issues from around the globe, offering practical views from the global practice on topics of relevance and importance to the restructuring market. If you are a current subscriber, you do not…

Causer v All Star Leisure (Group) Ltd [2019] EWHC 3231 (Ch) (Causer) is yet another case which highlights the issues that e-filing can cause for practitioners when using the system to appoint administrators. The decision in Causer followed Skeggs Beef in concluding that whilst the appointment of an administrator by a QFCH out of hours using the e-filing system is defective it is a defect capable of remedy. The case is nevertheless worthy of note…

Courts struggled this year to find a balance between state-licensed cannabis activity and the federal right to seek bankruptcy protection under the Bankruptcy Code.  During 2019, we had the first circuit-level opinion in the bankruptcy/cannabis space that appeared to open the door to bankruptcy courts, albeit slightly.  We also had lower court opinions slamming that door shut.  Below, we look at a few of the most important decisions issued throughout 2019 and analyze the current…

The government announced its intention to reinstate HMRC as a secondary preferential creditor in the 2018 Autumn Budget. Following consultation on this policy, the draft Finance Bill 2019/2020 was published. It was then subject to further technical consultation. Usually a policy is confirmed (or delayed or abandoned) in the Autumn Budget and if confirmed, will be included in the Finance Bill that is published shortly after the Budget. The legislation then proceeds through Parliament and…

If administrators use leased property for the benefit of the administration, rent is payable to the landlord for the period of occupation, as an expense of the administration. In London Bridge Entertainment, the court considered whether the administrators were obliged to top up a rent deposit where the landlord had taken monies from the rent deposit and applied the money against rent that fell due post administration and which would otherwise have been paid as…

In part 2 of a series of blogs we consider whether a landlord can be forced to accept a surrender of a lease and the consequences of that. This point was recently considered in the context of a scheme of arrangements where the Court concluded that a landlord cannot be forced to accept a surrender of a lease because this affects the landlord’s proprietary rights and therefore was outside of the scope of the arrangement.…