Welcome

Welcome to the third edition of our e-bulletin. Please take time to read the bulletin and to bring it to the attention of relevant individuals within your organisation.

We would appreciate your feedback so that we may gauge the bulletin's effectiveness and incorporate improvements in future editions. If there are specific subjects that you would like us to cover, then please let us know.

We hope that the guidance provided will prove to be a valuable reference tool.

John Cook
Head of Case Operations

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Agent News

Agents are reminded that the Accountant in Bankruptcy will not automatically meet the cost of Section 63 applications when the statutory meeting is not held within prescribed time limits. If the case has been allocated to the Agent within 2 weeks of the expiry date and at least 1 creditor's (including the petitioning creditor) details are known, any attributable costs will not be refunded. Notes for Guidance Section 9.1 refers.

From 1 October 2008, we have asked Agents to submit completed Appendix J2A forms, the 6 monthly review of cases administered under the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985, as amended from 1 April 2008.

There has been considerable variation in the amount of information that Agents are recording on this form and we therefore wish to try and standardise how this information is presented in the future. We require some detail in each section of the form and therefore 'n/a' will now not be considered an acceptable response in any section of the form.

Sections:

Statutory documents - If you have been unable to complete and submit any statutory document, you must state which documents have yet to be submitted and the reason why they have not been sent.

Heritage - If you have established that there is no heritage in a case, please confirm the following;

• What is the debtor's residential status, e.g. tenant/lives with relatives/owner etc?
• Has a property register search been conducted, and if so, what was the result?

Moveable - if you have not identified any moveable assets to be realised, please state this.

IPA/IPO - if the debtor is not in a position to pay a contribution, please confirm the following points;

• What is the debtor's employment status?
• Is the debtor in receipt of state benefits?
• Has the debtor's income been verified?
• Have you been in direct contact with the debtor?
• Has the debtor been co-operative?
• Is any court action being considered?

Discharge - Please advise if you are considering applying to defer the debtor's discharge.

If any section of the J2A form is not adequately completed, the form may be returned to you for clarification and amendment which may delay payment of the basic fee.

Completed J2A forms can be e-mailed to J2A@aib.gsi.gov.uk

A letter was issued to Trustees on 12 December 2008 advising that an Appendix L should be completed to obtain the Accountant's agreement on their proposals for heritage.

The Appendix L form is intended for Trustee use, however, as it contains the relevant information we need in Agent cases, we have no objection to Agents also using this form. I would ask, however, that if an IP does use the form for an Agent case, they clearly mark this on the top of the Appendix L. This will help us collect meaningful statistics.

Agents may wish to carry on sending us their proposals in the form of a letter, and this is, of course, acceptable. Agents are reminded that, in order for us to make a decision on the realisation of heritage, we must have a recent valuation and redemption figure for any standard securities.

As a general reminder, if an Appendix L is urgent, please also mark it accordingly. We can then deal with this immediately.

If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact Michelle.DeValencia@aib.gsi.gov.uk

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Trustee News

It is current practice for the Accountant in Bankruptcy to issue a determination of a Trustee's estimated fee to close when a Scheme of Division is agreed with a penultimate account. As Bankruptcy legislation does not support or provide for an advance determination to be made, I would welcome Trustees and their staffs' suggestions for regularising this process prior to instigating a change.

Please send your comments and suggestions to Valerie.Cavin@aib.gov.gsi.uk before the 27 February 2009.

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Guest Articles

This is a reminder about the Mortgage to Rent Scheme run by Communities Scotland. The scheme, funded by the Scottish government, is designed to help households that are in danger of being made homeless due to legal action. We cannot recommend the scheme to debtors, but can certainly make them aware of it. It may be especially pertinent in these times, when we may have difficulty selling property on the open market.

The scheme is intended for those who need to remain in a particular area for a reason such as a local job, children at a local school etc, but who are unable to do so without assistance.

The scheme changes the tenure of their home from ownership to a tenancy in the social rented sector and the landlord who buys the property will receive funding to allow them to charge a social rent.

Full market value is paid for a property, with a deduction made for any necessary repairs. The balance, after the deduction for repairs and repayment for the secured creditor, would be paid to the Trustee.

Any interested debtor should be directed to Citizen's Advice or Money Advice Scotland.

Full details of the scheme can be found at www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk

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I hope our e-newsletter has been both informative and useful to you.

Remember, if you would like anyone else from your organisation to be included in our mailing list please let us know. We would also greatly welcome feedback and ideas for future topics. You can do both by clicking the AiB link on the right.

Look out for our newsletter next quarter!

Best Wishes

AiB Accounts and Supervision Team

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The Accountant's Information Bulletin is produced by the Accounts and Supervision Teams, Case Operation Branch, AiB, for the benefit of agents and trustees working with the Agency. All information presented here was true and accurate at the time of publication.