I have a problem that is bothering me. A company went into liquidation in 1997; the process was completed in 2003. Another company wishes to purchase land that had belonged to the liquidated company but according to the Land Registry there is a charge still outstanding. The charge was in favour of a gentleman, and related to money lent to the gentleman by the business before liquidation.

According to the liquidators, the liquation was completed in full in 2003 but it seems the land cannot be bought until the outstanding charge is settled. Any thoughts as to why this could occur or what should be the next steps?

Dear Charlie, As ever many thanks for the last response - it was very helpful.

I was wondering if you could assist with the following, as part of a capital grants programme an applicant wants to purchase an industrial unit beside its existing location for the purposes of expansion. However there is an issue:-

There is a charge on the property in question and I presume that we can find out that charge if it was registered to a company through Companies House - is that correct? But in this case the property is owned by an individual - how does one finds out if an industrial property has a charge on it when owned by an individual? This forms part of the funding bodies eligibility criteria, and let me stress I am not trying to find out private information but how to access information available in the public domain.

Dear Charlie,

Thank you for the previous answer re: debt recovery. A charitable company has a mortgage taken out by one of the directors / trustee for £38k with:- 'Fixed & floating charge over the undertaking and all the land & whatever rights that exist over the land now and in the future and all property and all assets present and future including goodwill, book debts.'

Some other highlights:- The charitable company went into administration and was run under licence by a Co. Limited by shares, & all income & expenditure incurred by this CLS was transferred back to the charity and incorporated into the accounts; this agreement ceased when creditors agreed a percentage of their debts in a single payment. Accounts have been passed 'true & fair'.

Can you shed any light on the above - is the mortgage charge normal? Is the arangement with the CLS while in adminisdtration usual? Any help appreciated.