terminating leasing equipment agreement?

[man1]

Hi (not sure if this is the right forum)
I run a small business and unfortunately we have hit hard times and will have to close down next month. We have a lot of debts and are at present trying and figuring out how to pay all these.
We have equipment that is leased through one of the major banks and was valued at 17,000 euro, we have paid around 3,000 euro over the last year or two.
Obviously we will not need this equipment when we close.
What should we do, do we try to pay the rest of the money off , we can't really afford to pay it off.
If we stop payments (its direct debit so will be hard to arrange that) will they confiscate the equipment and that will be the end of it.
Or are the goods no good to them and will they try to come after me for the money instead??
I have tried to understand their terms and conditions but it is very confusing and I dont want to call them because then they will know my situation.
I dont want to do a runner but if it is just a simple case of them repossessing the goods (which they technically own), I will try to stop the payments.
What should I do?
Does anyone know the rules regarding leasing?

 

[contemporary]

Sorry to hear you are closing...

depends on the lease, did you personally guarantee anything? if you did they will come after you for the money directly. I would say that they will be repossessed and auctioned off, if you pay the rest of the lease off you will have to flog them, would you get the 14k or whatever the settlement is for them on your own?


Is the business a limited company, if so you can use the limited liability to protect yourself from the creditors, assuming you were not recklessly trading (most failures arent, it just doesnt work out) You say you have lots of debts, if the company (assuming it is one) is to close then put it into liquidation and let the liquidator worry about paying the debt

Good Luck...

 

[runner]

As contempory says, it all depends on you having signed a personal guarantee which is normal for start up small businesses. In that case they will chase you to the very death. If you let them repossess the kit, they will sell it off at rock bottom price and then persue you for the balance. They lend money, no sell equipment.Try and sell it yourself and use the money to pay off as much as possible. Then meet them and negociate a long pay back period on remaining balance. Good luck. Remember you are not the first to have this problem, so they will be used of people doing settlement deals.