Trustee in Bankruptcy of Louise St John Poulton v Ministry of Justice [2009] EWHC 2123 (Ch)
Chancery Division, Hazel Marshall QC sitting as a deputy judge of the High Court, 2 September 2009.
The Insolvency Rules 1986 (IR 1986), r 6.13 impose actionable statutory duties on the chief land registrar.
James Dawson (instructed by DWF LLP) for the claimant. Jonathan Lopian (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the defendant.
A bankruptcy petition was presented in the Guildford County Court in January 2004. The court failed, however, to send notice of that petition to the chief land registrar in accordance with r 6.13 of IR 1986.
Those rules were made pursuant to powers conferred by s 412 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986). Rule 6.13 provided that “when the [bankruptcy] petition is filed, the court shall forthwith send to the Chief Land Registrar notice of the petition together with a request that it may be registered in the register of pending actions.”
In March 2004, the subject of the petition sold a parcel of land generating approximately £45,500
