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372. Supplies of gas, water,
electricity, etc
(1) This section applies where on any day
("the relevant day") -
(a) a bankruptcy order is made
against an individual or an interim
receiver of an individual's property is
appointed, or
(b) a voluntary arrangement proposed
by an individual is approved under Part
VIII, or
(c) a deed of arrangement is made for
the benefit of an individual's
creditors;
and in this section "the
office-holder" means the official
receiver, the trustee in bankruptcy, the
interim receiver, the supervisor of the
voluntary arrangement or the trustee
under the deed of arrangement, as the
case may be.
(2) If a request falling within the next
subsection is made for the giving after the
relevant day of any of the supplies
mentioned in subsection (4), the supplier -
(a) may make it a condition of the
giving of the supply that the
office-holder personally guarantees the
payment of any charges in respect of the
supply, but
(b) shall not make it a condition of
the giving of the supply, or do anything
which has the effect of making it a
condition of the giving of the supply,
that any outstanding charges in respect
of a supply given to the individual
before the relevant day are paid.
(3) A request falls within this
subsection if it is made -
(a) by or with the concurrence of the
office-holder, and
(b) for the purposes of any business
which is or has been carried on by the
individual, by a firm or partnership of
which the individual is or was a member,
or by an agent or manager for the
individual or for such a firm or
partnership.
(4) The supplies referred to in
subsection (2) are -
(a) a public supply of gas,
(b) a supply of electricity by an
Electricity Board,
(c) a supply of water by statutory
water undertakers,
(d) a supply of telecommunication
services by a public telecommunications
operator.
(5) The following applies to expressions
used in subsection (4) -
(a) "public supply of gas" means a
supply of gas by the British Gas
Corporation or a public gas supplier
within the meaning of Part I of the Gas
Act 1986;
(b) "Electricity Board" means the
same as in the Energy Act 1983; and
(c) "telecommunications services" and
"public telecommunications operator"
mean the same as in the
Telecommunications Act 1984, except that
the former does not include services
consisting in the conveyance of
programmes included in cable programme
services (within the meaning of the
Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984)
373. Jurisdiction in relation
to insolvent individuals
(1) The High Court and the county courts
have jurisdiction throughout England and
Wales for the purposes of the Parts in this
Group.
(2) For the purposes of those Parts, a
county court has, in addition to its
ordinary jurisdiction, all the powers and
jurisdiction of the High Court; and the
orders of the court may be enforced
accordingly in the prescribed manner.
(3) Jurisdiction for the purposes of
those Parts is exercises -
(a) by the High Court in relation to
the proceedings which, in accordance
with the rules, are allocated to the
London insolvency district, and
(b) by each county court in relation
to the proceedings which are so
allocated to the insolvency district of
that court.
(4) Subsection (3) is without prejudice
to the transfer of proceedings from one
court to another in the manner prescribed by
the rules; and nothing in that subsection
invalidates any proceedings on the grounds
that they were initiated or continued in the
wrong court.
374. Insolvency districts
(1) The Lord Chancellor may by order
designate areas which are for the time being
to be comprised, for the purposes of the
Parts in this Group, in the London
insolvency district and the insolvency
district of each county court; and an order
under this section may -
(a) exclude any county court from
having jurisdiction for the purposes of
those Parts, or
(b) confer jurisdiction for those
purposes on any county court which has
not previously had that jurisdiction.
(2) An order under this section may
contain such incidental, supplemental and
transitional provisions as may appear to the
Lord Chancellor necessary or expedient.
(3) An order under this section shall be
made by statutory instrument and, after
being made, shall be laid before each House
of Parliament.
(4) Subject to any order under this
section -
(a) the district which, immediately
before the appointment day, is the
London bankruptcy district becomes, on
that day, the London insolvency
district;
(b) any district which immediately
before that day is the bankruptcy
district of a county court becomes, on
that day, the insolvency district of
that court, and
(c) any county court which
immediately before that day is excluded
from having jurisdiction in bankruptcy
is excluded, on and after that day, from
having jurisdiction for the purposes of
the Parts in this Group.
375. Appeals etc. from courts
exercising insolvency jurisdiction
(1) Every court having jurisdiction for
the purposes of the Parts in this Group may
review, rescind or vary any order made by it
in the exercise of that jurisdiction.
(2) An appeal from a decision made in the
exercise of jurisdiction for the purposes of
those Parts by a county court or by a
registrar in bankruptcy of the High Court
lies to a single judge of the High court;
and an appeal from a decision of that judge
on such an appeal lies, with the leave of
the judge or of the Court of Appeal, to the
Court of Appeal.
(3) A county court is not, in the
exercise of its jurisdiction for the purpose
of those Parts, to be subject to be
restrained by the order of any other court,
and no appeal lies from its decision in the
exercise of that jurisdiction except as
provided by this section.
376. Time-limits
Where by any provision in this Group of
Parts or by the rules the time for doing
anything is limited, the court may extend
the time, either before or after it has
expired, on such terms, if any, as it thinks
fit.
377. Formal defects
The acts of a person as the trustee of a
bankrupt's estate or as a special manager,
and the acts of the creditors' committee
established for any bankruptcy, are valid
notwithstanding any defect in the
appointment, election or qualifications of
the trustee or manager or, as the case may
be, of any member of the committee.
378. Exemption from stamp duty
Stamp duty shall not be charged on -
(a) any document, being a deed,
conveyance, assignment, surrender,
admission or other assurance relating
solely to property which is comprised in
a bankrupt's estate and which, after the
execution of that document, is or
remains at law or in equity the property
of the bankrupt or of the trustee of
that estate,
(b) any writ, certificate or other
instrument relating solely to the
property of a bankrupt or to any
bankruptcy proceedings.
379. Annual report
As soon as practicable after the end of
1986 and each subsequent calendar year, the
Secretary of State shall prepare and lay
before each House of Parliament a report
about the operation during that year of so
much of this Act is comprised in this Group
of Parts, and about proceedings in the
course of that year under the Deeds of
Arrangement Act 1914.
The above is the actual text of the
Insolvency Act 1986.
For more information please visit: Her
Majesty's Stationery Office.
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-Insolvency Act 1986
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