Landlords

Landlords

Zelf Hussain, Jane Steer and Edward Williams were appointed as Joint Administrators of Wilkinson Hardware Stores Ltd, wilko Ltd and wilko.com Ltd on 10 August 2023. The Joint Administrators will trade the business for a short period of time, focusing on achieving the best outcome for the creditors of the Company through realisation of its assets. 

What is happening with my property?

You should receive a letter from us to tell you either that the Company is continuing to trade from your property, or alternatively that the Company is no longer occupying your property and it is being handed back to you. If the Company is continuing to trade from your property the Administrators’ staff will be in contact with you within 10 days of appointment.  If you have not received a letter by 21 August 2023, please email us at uk_wilko_landlords@pwc.com.

Please note that we will endeavour to reply to any emails to this inbox within five working days, however due to high volumes of emails being received, it may take slightly longer.

Please be advised that any requests for property inspections will also take an additional 72 hours to arrange.

In the following sections, you will find frequently asked questions depending on the status of your property.

How long do you expect the administration process to last?

Unfortunately, our team cannot provide any further information relating to how long the administration process will continue as the process is complex and there are a lot of factors to be considered.

For what period will I continue to get paid?

If you have been advised that the Company is continuing to occupy the property for the trading period, rent will be paid from the date of appointment until the business no longer occupies the property. Payments will be made monthly in arrears until this point.

When am I going to get paid?

If you have been advised that the Company is continuing to occupy the property for the trading period, you will be paid monthly in arrears as long as you have submitted an invoice before 1st of each month.  If you charge VAT, this must be a valid VAT invoice and not an application for payment.  We will endeavour to make payments within 10 days of the end of the month.  Please note that insolvency case law states that rent accrues daily in arrears and therefore there is no legal obligation to pay rent in advance or in line with previous contractual terms.

What requirements are there for invoices to be processed?

If you have been advised that the Company is continuing to occupy the property for the trading period, please provide invoices as set out in the initial landlord letter. The requirements are:

• If you charge VAT on rent and other charges, a VAT invoice addressed to the relevant company, including ‘in administration’, for the applicable monthly period, for example, for 10 - 31 August 2023 for month one, 1-30 September 2023 for month two.

• If you do not charge VAT on rent, we still need you to provide us with an invoice, showing the amount being charged for the relevant month, and what it is for (e.g. rent, service charge).

• Confirmation of bank account details have been provided on headed paper (unless shown on the invoice).

• Invoices show the Net, VAT (if applicable) and Gross amounts.

• Invoices should show the split of rent, service charge, insurance and utilities (if applicable and if not provided as separate invoices).

• If you are unclear on the above, we have prepared a sample invoice demonstrating the requirements here which you may find useful.

Do you accept applications for payment?

No, if you are charging VAT, all requests for payment must be in the form of a valid VAT invoice in order to be processed for payment.

Timeframe for payment of unsecured claims

It is not possible to tell how long this process will take as this depends on the level of claims, amongst other factors. The process is however likely to be a number of months. A notice of intended dividend will be sent to all potential known creditors of each of the Companies when nearing completion of the process at which point creditors will have a final 21 days to submit final claims. 

You should be aware that where a dividend is paid, this will be calculated as a percentage of the amount you are owed and all unsecured creditors will receive the same percentage.  You will not receive 100% of any amount owed.

We’ll provide updates on the amount and timing of dividends in our progress reports to creditors, which will be posted on the website in due course.

What happens if I’m owed amounts from before the administration (including service charge, utilities etc.)?

We understand that a number of landlords have received payment in advance to 30 August 2023.  However, if there are rental arrears for the period of occupation before the date of our appointment 10 August 2023, these will be an unsecured claim in the administration and creditors should submit a claim in the administration of the company which held the lease.  You should receive a creditor portal letter within three weeks of our appointment which is where you should submit your claim. Submitting this via the portal means that you can check on the status of your claim, input bank details etc. If you haven't received a creditor portal letter by 5 September 2023, please email uk_wilko_creditors@pwc.com. Please do not use this mailbox for general landlord related queries, which instead should be directed to uk_wilko_landlords@pwc.com