Part IX

Bankruptcy
Chapter I

The court: bankruptcy petitions and bankruptcy orders

Creditor’s petition

Proceedings on creditor’s petition.
271
1
The court shall not make a bankruptcy order on a creditor’s petition unless it is satisfied that the debt, or one of the debts, in respect of which the petition was presented is either—
a
a debt which, having been payable at the date of the petition or having since become payable, has been neither paid nor secured or compounded for, or
b
a debt which the debtor has no reasonable prospect of being able to pay when it falls due.
2
In a case in which the petition contains such a statement as is required by section 270, the court shall not make a bankruptcy order until at least 3 weeks have elapsed since the service of any statutory demand under section 268.
3
The court may dismiss the petition if it is satisfied that the debtor is able to pay all his debts or is satisfied—
a
that the debtor has made an offer to secure or compound for a debt in respect of which the petition is presented,
b
that the acceptance of that offer would have required the dismissal of the petition, and
c
that the offer has been unreasonably refused;
and, in determining for the purposes of this subsection whether the debtor is able to pay all his debts, the court shall take into account his contingent and prospective liabilities.
4
In determining for the purposes of this section what constitutes a reasonable prospect that a debtor will be able to pay a debt when it falls due, it is to be assumed that the prospect given by the facts and other matters known to the creditor at the time he entered into the transaction resulting in the debt was a reasonable prospect.
5
Nothing in sections 267 to 271 prejudices the power of the court, in accordance with the rules, to authorise a creditor’s petition to be amended by the omission of any creditor or debt and to be proceeded with as if things done for the purposes of those sections had been done only by or in relation to the remaining creditors or debts.
Pt. IX (ss. 264-371) excluded by Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 (c. 32, SIF 39:1), s. 15(1)(7)
Pt. IX excluded by Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33, SIF 39:1), ss. 84, 123, Sch. 8 para. 16
Pt. IX (ss. 264-371) amended by Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1987 (c.41, SIF 39:1), ss. 30(6), 34(1), 47(4)(a)
Pt. IX (except ss. 269, 270, 287, 297) applied (with modifications) (1.12.1994) by S.I. 1994/2421, art. 8(7)-(9), Sch. 4 Pt. II, Sch. 7 (as amended (1.7.2005) by S.I. 2005/1516, art. 10)
Pt. IX (except ss. 273, 274, 287, 297) applied (1.12.1994) by S.I. 1994/2421, art. 10(4)(5)(a)
Pt. IX (ss. 264-371) modified (3.2.1995) by 1994 c. 37, ss. 32(1), 69(2), Sch. 2 para. 5 (with s. 66(2))
Pt. IX modified (31.3.1996) by 1995 c. 20, s. 110(1), Sch. 4 para. 2(1); S.I. 1996/517, art. 3(2) (subject to transitional provisions and savings in arts. 4-6, Sch. 2)
Pt. IX modified (1.4.1996) by 1995 c. 43, ss. 44, 50(2), Sch. 2 para. 2(1)
Pt. IX modified (1.9.2001 subject to art. 3 of the commencing S.I.) by 2001 c. 17, s. 1(3), Sch. 6 para. 9(1) (with s. 78); S.I. 2001/2161, arts. 2, 3 (as amended by S.I. 2001/2304, art. 2)
Pt. IX modified (24.3.2003) by 2002 c. 29, ss. 417, 458(1)(3); S.I. 2003/333, art. 2, Sch. (subject to arts. 3-13 (as amended by S.I. 2003/531, arts. 3, 4))
Pt. IX (ss. 264-371) restricted (6.4.1996 for the purpose only of authorising the making of regulations) by 1995 c. 26, ss. 91(3), 180(1) (with s. 121(5)); S.I. 1996/778, art. 2(5)(a), Sch. Pt. V
Second Group of Parts (Pts. 8-11) modified (31.12.1996) by 1991 c. 57, Sch. 10 (as substituted by 1995 c. 25, s. 120(1), Sch. 22 para. 183 (with ss. 7(6), 115, 117); S.I. 1996/2909, art. 3)
Second Group of Parts (Pts. 8-11) modified (11.11.1999 for specified purposes and 6.4.2002 otherwise) by 1999 c. 30, s. 12(1); S.I. 2002/153, art. 2(b)
Pt. IX (except ss. 273, 274, 287) applied (1.12.1994) by S.I. 1994/2421, art. 11(1)(2)(a), Sch. 7 (as amended (1.7.2005) by S.I. 2005/1516, art. 10 and S.I. 1994/2421, Sch. 7 para. 21 (1.1.2015) by The Banks and Building Societies (Depositor Preference and Priorities) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/3486), arts. 1(2), 15 (with art. 3))
Pt. 9 Ch. 1 heading substituted (6.4.2016) by Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (c. 24), s. 103(3), Sch. 19 para. 5; S.I. 2016/191, art. 2 (with art. 3)
S. 271 applied (with modifications) (1.12.1994) by S.I. 1994/2421, arts. 8(3)(9), 10(1)(a), Sch. 4 Pt. II para. 9, Sch. 6 para. 3 (as amended (8.12.2017) by The Insolvency (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/1119), reg. 1(1), Sch. 2 para. 3)
S. 271 applied with modifications by S.I. 1986/1999, art. 3, Sch. 1 Pt. II (as amended (8.12.2017) by The Insolvency (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/1119), reg. 1(1), Sch. 3 para. 1(2)(3)(d))