Overview Of Creditor Rights To Proofs Of Debt
What are creditor rights to proofs of debt? The statutory provisions start out at Rule 1.54 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016:
1.54. Where the Act, in relation to proceedings under Parts 1 to 11 of the Act, or these Rules give a person the right to inspect documents, that person has a right to be supplied on request with copies of those documents on payment of the standard fee for copies.
So where there is a right of inspection there is a right to a copy. However, that is subject to payment of a fee for copies.
What Is The Standard Fee?
So what is the standard fee? The standard fee is set out in Rule 1.2(2) of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 1986:
“standard fee for copies” means 15 pence per A4 or A5 page or 30 pence per A3 page;
What is the entitlement to inspect?
The entitlement to inspect a Proof of Debt form is set out in Rule 14.6 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016:
14.6. The office-holder must, so long as proofs delivered to the office-holder are in the possession of the office-holder, allow them to be inspected, at all reasonable times on any business day, by the following—
(a) a creditor who has delivered a proof (unless the proof has been wholly rejected for purposes of dividend or otherwise, or withdrawn);
(b) a member or contributory of the company or, in the case of a bankruptcy, the bankrupt; and
(c) a person acting on behalf of any of the above.
A further point to note for creditor rights is that it applies to a creditor who has delivered proof of debt that has not been wholly rejected.
Conclusion: Creditor Rights To Proofs Of Debt
Therefore the conclusion one can reasonably draw as to the various ‘ifs’, ‘buts’ and ‘maybes’ is that if a party is a creditor and if that party has submitted a proof of debt and if that proof of debt has not been rejected or withdrawn and if a request has been made for inspection of the proofs and if the standard fee has been paid then such a creditor can obtain copies of the proofs.
