

By email / Our RefGP/A2143296
Your Ref
Email
Tel0300 200 2743
Date21February 2012

Dear Agent

Closure of AiB Agency cases.

Please bring this letter to the attention of all your staff who are involved in the administration of AiB Agency cases.

From 1 April 2012, all live sequestrations cases allocated to Agents under the terms of the original AiB Agency contract will be over three years old. There are currently just over 800 cases which have still to be finalised.

It is the Accountant’s wish that we try to bring these cases to a satisfactory conclusion by no later than the end of the next financial year, 2012/13.

In order to assist you in closing your remaining Agency cases, you are invited to contact me to discuss your Agency case load,toagree the action that is required to bring each case to conclusion.

I have recently met with a number of you to discuss your cases and I believe that we found these meetings to be very helpful and a constructive wayto agree the way forward with cases.

My staff and I will be happy to visit your office to discuss cases if this would be helpful, or you are welcome to visit us in Kilwinning. I can also arrange for a representative from our Legal Agents, Harper Macleod, to be available to givelegal advice,as required.

Please also make use of Harper Macleod’s free 30 minute consultation period, if you have any Agency case issue that you would like legal advice on.

If you have any cases where an IPA or IPO is reaching its conclusion and there are no assets to pursue once the final contribution has been paid, I would be grateful if the schemes of division and final accounts can be completed and submitted as soon as possible thereafter, so these cases can be concluded.

If you have any cases whereby the Accountant’s interest in the equity in a property is being paid for by instalments, please can you provide me with the details of the terms that have been agreed in each case and if there have been any breaks in the payment of instalments. There may be scope to bring the settlement on these properties to an earlier conclusion.

There are also a number of things that you should consider if you are managing the disposal of property:

  • If a property has been on the market for over nine months, and there is no indication that it will be sold in the immediate future, permission can be obtained for the property to be sold at auction.

Please let me know if you have any properties that may be suitable

for auction.

  • If you have been given our approval to contact Harper Macleod to commence legal action, please contact them within two weeks of receiving our approval. They will be expecting your call.
  • Prior to obtaining our authorisation to sell or dispose of a property, it is important that we are made fully aware of the financial situation regarding both the property and the status of the case. Therefore, you must provide an up-to-date property valuation,secured loan redemption figure(s), date inhibition renewed and a copy of the property search,along with an understanding of the debtor’s outstanding liabilities.

Once we have this information, along with your recommendation,

weshould be able to make a quick decision on whether the terms

ofdisposal/sale are acceptable to the Accountant. This should

reduce the amount of communications that pass between us.

  • Please ensure all your empty properties are secured and all water pipes have been drained. It is important that empty properties are disposed of as quickly as possible, to reduce the risk of damage and loss in value.
  • It is very important that you notify us if you identify any insurance risk that should be addressed by AiB and your recommended action. I refer you to Section 12.4 of the Agency Contract.
  • When a property, which vests in the trustee, is unoccupied and unfurnished, the trustee is not liable for Council Tax. However, you should inform the Local Authority about the property so they can update their records and complete any investigation they deem is necessary.
  • It would be very helpful if my Supervision Team could be advised when missives have been completed and when they can expect receipt of the disposition for signing.

If you have any problems with regards to progressing and completing your Agency cases, I will be happy to discuss if AiB staff can provideassistance to help you.

I will continue to monitor the administration of the remaining Agency cases and it is important that you keep my Supervision Team up-to-date on progress and with details of any changes in circumstances.

If you have not submitted a case status report to AiBsince before November 2011, please complete and send a J2A report for each of your cases to my Supervision Team, before 31 March 2012. Please also ensure that you have completed and submitted all accounts which have become due, and your sederunt books are finalised when they are due.

Over the next few months, I may contact you directly to discuss your case load and your administration plans and timetables for finalising cases.

Please do not hesitate to contact either myself or one of my Supervision Team, if you have a question regarding your cases. I believe one telephone conversation can often achieve more than several letters or emails.

I hope that this information is helpful and please contact meif you would like to arrange a meeting.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

Graeme Perry

Head of Supervision

On behalf of the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

1

An agency of  