www.iva.co.uk

A debtor owes me money from a CCJ for breaking consumer laws. He sold me a car unfit for purpose. He has now applied for an IVA and the IVA company have told me I will not get any money back. Can Court orders from bad business practices be consolidated by an IVA? Can dodgy business men, such as this hide behind IVA's? I am the 4th person who has won a CCJ against this garage and we have all been told the same thing. We have also been told that he can continue to trade. Seems rather unjust.

Hi Pamela and welcome to the forum

If you are a genuine creditor of this person, then I cannot understand why the IP is saying you will not get any money back. Surely the dividend on offer is more than 0p in the £!

The issue of him continuing to trade is one for Trading Standards, I am afraid - but this does not mean that you should not be repaid a proportion (if not all!) of your debt in the proposed IVA.

Thank you for your reply.

Trading Standards are investigating this gentlemans business practices.

I have instructed a solicitor to act on my behalf in respect of the monies owed because this gentleman is operating as a second hand car dealer and I have won my court case against him 'Trading as...' hence there must be other avenues I can pursue.

But it does appear to be the case that even self-employed people breaching consumer laws can use IVA's to write off debts, so despite the so-called protections in place, it is still a case of 'buyer beware'.