Chris Fick & Associates

Debtor not paying? Consider a liquidation application

“When debtors once have borrowed all we have to lend, they are very apt to grow shy of their creditors’ company” (John Vanbrugh) Bad debt is a major issue for many businesses in these hard economic times – not taking robust steps to collect it could be fatal to your own financial position. So if […]

How to escape from a property suretyship

“Suretyship is the precursor of ruin” (Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece) As the philosopher and mathematician Thales pointed out two and a half millennia ago, signing surety for another’s debts carries huge risk. Yet every day directors of property holding companies happily sign personal suretyships for their company’s (usually […]

PROPERTY BUYERS: MUST YOU PAY THE PREVIOUS OWNER’S OLD DEBTS?

Imagine this. You buy your dream house. You take transfer. You book a date for your move with Fred’s Furniture Removals. But when you apply for electricity and water accounts so you can actually move in, your local municipality refuses until you settle an old (and substantial) municipal debt which the original owner still owes. […]