Who's Property

[lyndylou]

We use a laundry company to hire and launder the linen we use for our business. This company went into liquidation yesterday. We have a stock of hire linen on the property including a batch needing laundering. The laundry company emailed us to say they have asked another company to service us this week but we are not obliged to use them. We have chosen to use them (just for this week because they say they are too busy for the extra work load they would have so will not be taking on any new businesses) but since their prices clearly include hire charges I am confused about the ownership of the linen they are going to collect dirty and return clean but then we won't be using them again? I think that in due course the liquidators may need to collect the linen as part of the debt, so I don't really want to go down the self clean or self service launderettes jus in case any linen gets ruined. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated
Thank you

[Buenchico]

Irrespective of where it might go to until it gets back to where it belonged, any property that formerly belonged to 'XYZ Laundry Ltd' now belongs to 'XYX Laundry (in liquidation) Ltd'. It forms part of the assets of the company, which the liquidator will require in order to sell (probably at auction) in order to settle the debts (in whole or in part) of the company.

Unlike, say hiring catering equipment (where you're expected to return it in a clean condition), your agreement provided that the linen would be sent back soiled. So yo don't need to get it laundered before returning it to the liquidator.

Technically (while waiting to return it to the administrator/liquidator) you shouldn't now be going through the cycle of getting it laundered elsewhere (and then reusing it) time and time again, as that runs the risk of lowering its sale value through wear and tear. In practice, however, I can't see that such an arrangement (in order to see you through the period while you're seeking a new hire-&-clean contract elsewhere) would actually present any real problems.

[lyndylou]

Thank you I thought this was the case as I was a bit dubious sending it to another company
So its best to keep it safe for the liquidators? And start a fresh with another company? Humm that just leaves the problem of storage?? But thanks for the prompt reply :-)