Selling to settle a debt - HELP!!

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Tackytoe

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I have had 3 horses on livery for sometime with the owner having not paid.

It has now been decided between myself and the owner to sell in order to settle his debts.

Two are broken but roughed off and the other is 4 and unbroken so will be sold more or less straight from the field.

As the owner is quite far away I will be dealing with the sales - What confirmation do I need from the owner in order to do this? Or can I just go ahead and sell?
 
Get it all in writing, detailing exactly what you have put here. He agrees to you selling the horses for a price agreed by you and you are to keep the funds to clear his debt of £???? any surplus will be returned to him after your reasonable selling expenses. I wouldn't recommend you sell them until you have that in writing
 
Ugh - It is all a nightmare, it is getting to the point where I can no longer afford to keep them, crippling my business.

I have asked for it all in writing.


I do not have the time to bring them in, tart them up and work them to have them 'saleable' but equally I do not just want to call and dealer to have them taken away. They are nice types, and the owner is a decent person with luck really not on his side....
 
Sounds like a difficult decision, but maybe the only way of getting some money back if the poor owner is having a really tough time :cool: Good luck with the selling x
 
I'd probably put it in writing myself and then send to him for his signature, preferably with both signatures witnessed. You could be waiting a while for him to get round to writing it down for you, after all he's the one benefitting from someone else paying to keep his horses.

Good luck!
 
You may also want to be clear about what happens if the horses are sold and don't raise enough to discharge the debt. You also need to be careful that he can't accuse you of selling at an undervalue so it might be best to agree that he signs the horses over to you in settlement of his debts and you then do as you wish with them (you can sell them, if you get more than the debt you are quids in, if less then he has no come back on you).

It would be worth getting some professional legal advice, if you are a livery business you probably get legal help as part of your business insurance. Or try the BHS if you are a member.
 
HI,
I see you have emailed him, print the email and send it special delivery so that he MUST sign for it, get the proof of signing etc.. .from Royal mail. Thsi just covers your own back from the "I didn't get your email"
Not saying that isn't going to happen.

Secondly, to cut your own further expense and the current status of the animals, personally i would put them through the auction.
As this is crippling your business, if you are waiting weeks for the usual timewasters and the odd serious buyer then it would end up costing you futrher, nor would a court see this as you trying to keep loses to a minimum.

The market isn't exactly at a peak right now and so unless the youngsters are tremendous then sales could take along time. So bear in mind.

Whilst I appreciate alot of people don't like auctions, if this is really hurting your business, which is your living then I personally would not hesitate.

My friend has had to go through this process with someones horse and it isn't pleasant, but she did not want the horse and he was taking up a stable and costing her to keep him, she also had a lady wanting to use the stable!

Confirm your intention in the letter to limit your losses, and recover the debt via the sale of the horses. That you will take the appropriate course of action to do this (then you have the chance to decide how best to achieve the sale).

Do you have the passports?
You will also need something in writing in his agreeing to this arrangement, so I suggest with your letter to him that you also create a form that states what is happening a copy each, you both sign.
Then at auction there is no potential issue given the seller is not the owner. My friend did this.

Never a nice situation and hope you get through it promptly.
 
Please get proper legal advice, you may well be able to get help free but even if not an hour of a solicitors time is not crazy money and could prevent a lot of problems down the line. You need to be really clear on the legalities.
 
One last thing.

You need to put in writing when the end of the livery agreement was, and what the total debt value was. Keep things black and white, no grey areas.

You may also incur some costs to go to an auction or however you decide to sell.
Make this clear. Otherwise you could end up in a wrangle over how much you owe him and what additional costs you incurred.

I would set up a bill once they are sold for the total livery, plus expenses of sale, proof of the sales value and if there is a short fall - you need some sort of agreement in place with him, if there is an excess then I personally would return it to him.

Once you give notice that the agreement of livery is terminated then you can't continue to have the debt grow over the subsequent weeks because you have terminated the contract, if you see what I mean.

Hence my suggestion of auction the horses and limit your further loss.

As someone else suggests an hour of a solicitors time is invaluable.
 
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