Contract question

[Yasou1985]

Hi

I have a scenario which I am trying to find out if there's any legal grounds to make a case.

I am currently contracted which a dormant company who I am invoicing every month. The bills are being paid by another company in their group.

The other company has been paying the invoices for over a year now. I'd like to know because the other party has been paying the bills for so long does that make accept liability going forward even if they no longer pay I can pursue them?

 

[Newchodge]

I am currently contracted which a dormant company who I am invoicing every month. The bills are being paid by another company in their group.

Contracted to do what?

 

[John Hemming]

Its all a bit strange as a dormant company carries on no business activities. If you are invoicing them then clearly they are not dormant. It may be the case that at companies house they appear to be dormant, but the accounts have not yet been submitted for the period concerned.

We do, however, need a lot more information before making any comments.

It strikes me that you need to be careful as to how much money you have outstanding at any one stage and perhaps negotiating weekly payments would be a good idea.

 

[MikeJ]

I'd just start invoicing the other company...

 

[Yasou1985]

I have unpaid invoices and I am worried about then turning into bad debt. I am considering the worst case scenario which is debt collection and who I can go after.

Can I legally go after the bill payer even though there's no agreement between my company and the bill payer?

 

[Mr D]

I have unpaid invoices and I am worried about then turning into bad debt. I am considering the worst case scenario which is debt collection and who I can go after.

Can I legally go after the bill payer even though there's no agreement between my company and the bill payer?

You can chase the company you are contracted with.

If your bills are not being paid then why carry on providing services? If they are being paid you are worrying about likely nothing.

 

[The Resolver]

Simply because the other company pays your invoices does not make them your client. The worry is that the client company is misrepresenting the position to CH. I would firstly do some customer due diligence on the second company and , if satisfactory, insist on that company taking over liability under the contract.

 

[Alison Moore]

You wouldn't be able to go after the bill payer if your original client goes bust, as the contract is between you and the original client. The original client and the bill payer are two separate legal entities. However it does seem strange that you're billing one company and yet another company is paying, so I would clarify it with them or start billing the new company.

 

[Financial-Modeller]

...The bills are being paid by another company in their group...

I have unpaid invoices and I am worried about then turning into bad debt...

So are your invoices being paid or not?

Is it possible that you are sending VAT invoices to your client which is not VAT-registered, and being paid (or not?) by a VAT-registered company within the same group?