When agreeing for a third party to purchase the beneficial interest in a property, the Official Receiver is not taking notice of the amount which would be available under sale conditions, but the value of the equity at that point in time. A redemption penalty is only taken account of in the event of a sale, and for these purposes is excluded from the calulation of equity by the Official Receiver, especially if the negotiations are being held with the bankrupt's spouse.
As a tax-payer I am afraid that you have little say in the actions of the Official Receiver, and the loss is hardly met from government coffers but rather the pockets of the creditors - who in my experience get rather uninterested once they are aware that a bankruptcy order has been made. For the record my personal view is that redemption penalties should be taken into account, but the I don't make the rules!
A private sector IP is unlikely to be offered a case where equity is less than £10k as these would remain within the RTLUs which were specifically set up to realise low value assets.
Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner
