Is the lodgement of a caveat over the real estate of a director or a director's spouse prohibited by operation of section 440J of the Corporations Act?

Section 440J of the Corporations Act provides that during a company's voluntary administration, a personal guarantee cannot be enforced against a director's spouse or relative. This provision is well-known to insolvency practitioners and essentially provides a moratorium so that a director and the director’s family members are protected from enforcing personal guarantees while the administration process plays out. 

Holman Webb Lawyers is expanding its capability in several teams to support ongoing growth, announcing the addition of three partners across our Sydney and Melbourne offices.

Holman Webb Lawyers is proud to announce eight promotions across three offices, effective 1 July 2023.

There is no doubt that the pandemic era has caused an economic downturn - now evident in the surge in business failures, particularly within the construction sector.

With the pandemic support schemes coming to an end, there is an imminent fear that there will be further downfall impacting already struggling businesses, which will in turn see a rise above pre-pandemic insolvency levels.

The surge in the number of business failures has reached a two and a half year high, with the largest increase in administrations over the past 12 months being within the construction industry, as companies respond to supply shortages and inflation of materials amongst other concerns.

A nerd, a lawyer and marketer go for coffee… sounds like the intro to a bad joke (and maybe it is) – but recently, Holman Webb’s Marketing and Business Development Manager sat down with the firm’s Head of Innovation and Growth, Steve Ferhad and Chris Hadley MICM – Partner within the firm’s Commercial Recovery and Insolvency Group, for a discussion on how converging technologies are set to impact the credit profession.
 

Contracts do not need to be complicated or convoluted, but they do need the right Terms and Conditions in place to ensure your business is properly protected. A robust set of Terms and Conditions can eliminate loopholes and put your business in the best possible position to recoup monies owed.

Having appropriately worded Terms and Conditions can mean the difference between a successful recovery and a write-off.  

This article outlines theTerms and Conditions that trade credit suppliers should consider within the context of a Commercial Credit Agreement.

We are pleased to invite you to join Holman Webb's Commercial Recovery and Insolvency Group for our upcoming webinar: 'Tips to improve commercial recoveries and increase cashflow', taking place from 11:30am (AEST) on Thursday 4 August.

Presented by Holman Webb Commercial Recovery and Insolvency Partner Christopher Hadley, and Collections Software Specialist Griffin Swanson, this interactive seminar will cover best practices for collections leaders.

Topics covered will include:

• What are the impacts of the risk you take on?
• What’s the worst that can happen?
• Why does this matter?
• Could increased ATO activity bring about more insolvency?
• Why does this impact on trade creditors?
• What are we expecting to see in the coming year?
• What can you do now, to mitigate this risk?
• What is the simplest, and most effective way to protect your credit risk?
• Important terms and conditions

This seminar will be highly relevant for CEOs, CFOs, Credit Managers and Collections Specialists.

Risk is when your loss can easily surpass your gain – severity of that loss can come down to exposure and vulnerability of your business.

In many industries, risk takes various forms and the risk factors that could affect your business the most are could be external – economic downturn and insolvency.

This piece from Holman Webb's Commercial Recovery and Insolvency Group takes a look at the concept of risk, what those working within a credit function need to know - and how Holman Webb can help.

In April 2022, the ATO issued 50,000 letters of demand to company directors giving them 21 days to resolve tax liabilities.

Historically, once ATO and major banks start escalating collection activity, it’s not uncommon to see insolvencies rise.

This piece from Holman Webb's Commercial Recovery and Insolvency Group highlights the impact that the ATO's issuance of these letters is likely to have within the building and construction industries.

The Australian Financial Review recently reported that “total construction sector inflation will hit 9.5 per cent over the year to June 2022, and 6 per cent over the year to December 2022”.

This increased financial pressure in the industry will heavily impact the likelihood of increased insolvency activity.

With the latest ABS statistics confirming that the CPI increased by 2.1% in the last quarter, and that inflation reached 5.1% over the 12 months to March 2022 quarter (the highest since 2001) - those in the building and construction industries have been particularly hard hit.

Higher inflation impacts:

• Supply chains: a shortage of materials has seen an increase of 3.8% in construction costs;
• Labour markets; and
• RBA interest rate rise: higher interest rates may lead to a dampening in economic activity.

These additional costs have flow on effects to construction activity, some of which may be far reaching.