www.iva.co.uk

Hello,

I wonder if somebody could advise on behalf of a friend who is applying to rent a flat. She is currently in an IVA agreement and is concerned as to how she should answer the following question on her application form for the flat:-

"have you any County Court Judgements, Court Decrees, Bankruptcy or Administration Orders"? - If yes then please detail on a separate sheet. Please also be aware that it may harm your application if you tick NO and are later found to have County Court Judgements, Bankruptcy Orders etc

Is an IVA a court decree or is it an Administration Order or is it just an IVA? Can she truthfully answer NO even though she is in IVA?

Thank you in advance.

Hi,I believe that you should mark a "yes"in this part of the application as an IVA is a court decree/admin order.It may well be that the application form has wording that is several years old and pre dates IVAs.
Best to be safe

Not sure I agree with that one. An IVA is a contract with creditors to repay debts. It requires a mutual consent, and therefore has not been subject to any enforcement procedure. It is not a court decree or admin order and therefore I think you could comfortably answer no!

To be absolutely transparent, however, you might wish to confirm that you are subject to an IVA to be on the safe side.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.
View my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

You would know better than me Melanie but an IVA has been approved and made binding by a court so surely it is deemed as a court decree ?

I will check this out with a lawyer friend of mine over the next couple of days to be sure! The Courts have no part in the acceptance process these days, so I still feel that an IVA is contractual rather than bound by statute.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.
View my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

Thank you fo all of your replies and advice. My friend played safe and was up front and honest with the agent and told him she was in an IVA agreement.

She had a guarantor and was offered the flat the next day!

She's a very happy lady now.

Regards

Any further info on this topic Melanie ?

Yes - my lawyer contact agreed with me that the IVA is a contractual document. The role of the Court is to provide protection in the period leading to the creditors meeting, if this is deemed necessary, but has no part to play afterwards unless it is required to - for instance for directions hearings, or bankruptcy proceedings.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk