Day: October 30, 2018

High Quality Books Ltd, formerly known as Printed Books Limited, and We Print Books Ltd, formerly known as Offset Printers Limited, were wound up in the public interest in the Manchester District Registry on 18 October 2018. The Official Receiver has now been appointed as the Liquidator.

The two London-based publishers operated numerous websites offering printing services, specialising in small print runs. One of their key targets were self-publishers, who were attracted to the competitive rates.

However, the Insolvency Service received complaints about the printers and following enquiries, found evidence of wrongdoing.

Investigators found that after an order was placed, the printers demanded advanced payment of at least 50% before the job started. The companies would then claim they completed the jobs in-house but investigators found that no printing facilities were either owned or operated by them.

Instead, the print jobs were sub-contracted and mainly to suppliers in Eastern Europe who were not always paid and often failed to dispatch the work as a result.

When customers did complain to the printers they were referred to the companies’ Terms & Conditions. However, some customers claimed they had never seen these before and the T&Cs were heavily biased towards the companies.

Where complaints were accepted, refunds were often sporadic and did not cover the full amount. Investigators only found one example where a full refund was made.

Investigators also found that on many occasions, customers would initially start to contract with one company before receiving responses from the other, confusing customers as to who they were dealing with.

The Insolvency Service was unable at any point to determine the full extent of the printers’ trading activities as the companies failed to fully co-operate throughout the investigation. The names of the printers were also changed to High Quality Books Ltd and We Print Books Ltd respectively just two days before the courts shut them down.

District Judge Khan found in his judgement that both companies had traded with a lack of transparency, as well as a lack of commercial probity in that they made misrepresentations to customers, failed to handle customer data appropriately and failed to maintain and/or deliver up accounting records or co-operate with investigators.

Irshard Mohammed, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

Through the courts, thankfully we have been able to put a stop to these rogue printers. They used deceitful tactics to attract customers, demanded up-front payments and when customers complained having failed to receive their orders, the printers either blamed the customer or hid behind their Terms & Conditions.

These winding-up proceedings should serve as a clear warning to dishonest companies that we will use the full weight of our powers and shut down businesses that operate unscrupulously.

High Quality Books Ltd was previously known as Printed Books Limited, Litho Printing Ltd, Paper Press Limited and UK Print Ltd.

We Print Books Ltd was previously known as Offset Printers Limited and Ink Paper Ltd.

All public enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit North, PO Box 16663, Birmingham, B2 2JP. Email: piu.north@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk or farouk.vawda@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.

Notes to Editors

High Quality Books Limited (company registration number 09303495) was incorporated on 10 November 2014, originally under the name UK Print Limited. The company’s registered office is at 3 Shortlands, London W6 8DA and previously 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ.

Offset Printers Limited (company registration number 10503706) was incorporated on 30 November 2016, originally under the name Ink Paper Limited. The company’s registered office is at 3 Shortlands, London W6 8DA and previously 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ.

The petitions to wind-up both High Quality Books Limited and We Print Books Limited were presented under s124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 on 30 August 2018. The companies were wound up on 18 October 2018 and the Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator.

Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Further information about live company investigations is available here.

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

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The UK supports the below EEAS statement issued on 26 October on the revision by the Chinese authorities of the ‘Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulation on De-extremification’.

Statement by the EEAS Spokesperson on the situation in Xinjiang:

The revision by the Chinese authorities of the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulation on De-extremification” highlights the deteriorating human rights situation in Xinjiang. There are credible reports of mass detentions in political “re-education camps” affecting Uighurs and other minorities; of mass surveillance; of restrictions on travel; and of Uighurs abroad allegedly being returned to China involuntarily.

These revisions run counter to the recommendations provided by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which call on China to change its policy in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

In this context, the EU expects China to respect freedom of religion or belief, and freedom of expression, as well as the rights of persons belonging to ethnic or national minorities, as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory.

Further information

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Sir Oliver Letwin’s report said new rules would require developers to build a wider range of properties with different designs and tenures, to speed up build out rates.

In his interim report, he said he could not find “any evidence” that major developers are “holding land as a purely speculative activity” – and their business models instead rely on selling houses.

Instead, having too many identical properties on large sites – and the limits on how quickly these can be sold – is the fundamental reason behind the slow build out rate.

The government will now consider the report into the build out rate of large sites before deciding on next steps.

Last year over 217,000 new homes were delivered – the highest number on all but one of the last 30 years. Sir Oliver recommends that by adopting the measures in his report it will help government towards their target of delivering 300,000 homes a year.

In his final report, he calls for:

• new planning rules which require homebuilders to offer a range of different types of properties on big sites, so they can be completed more quickly without “flooding” the market with a large number of identical properties
• a new National Expert Committee to be set up to advise councils on the different types of properties that should be offered on large sites; they would also handle appeals where there is a dispute between developers and local authorities
• incentives for homebuilders to change plans for existing sites so they start offering a variety of property types immediately
• councils to be given a more muscular role in guiding major homebuilding projects – and the power to purchase undeveloped land for 10 times its existing use value; this would make it viable for more affordable housing to be built

Rt. Hon. Sir Oliver Letwin MP said:

I found that the main reason developers are slow to complete building on large sites is that there is only a limited demand each year for the highly uniform properties they are building on those sites.

My final report sets out some policy levers that government can use to increase the variety of homes on sites, so they can be built out more quickly.

The government has confirmed that Help to Buy equity loan funding will not be made conditional on large sites that already have planning permission adopting the proposed new diversity requirements. The government will honour any funding commitments made to sites with existing outline planning permission, regardless of any new planning policy on differentiation.

A full response to other aspects of the report will be made next year.

Secretary of State for Communities, Rt. Hon. James Brokenshire MP, said:

There is no mission more urgent than making our housing market work, and building the homes our country needs.

Sir Oliver has found that it takes 15 years to complete building on some of the largest sites, which is far too long.

It is clear action is needed so developers work with us as partners to deliver 300,000 properties a year by the mid 2020s. We will consider the recommendations in Sir Oliver’s report to determine next steps to ensure we build the homes our country needs.

New planning rules for large sites

The government’s planning rulebook already encourages housing developments to have a mix of property types, and councils are encouraged to divide up large sites to speed up the delivery of homes.

Sir Oliver recommends the government goes further and adopts a new set of planning rules for large sites. This would require developers to offer a range of property types.

The changes could be brought in quickly through a written ministerial statement and secondary legislation, before a change to the law goes through Parliament.

A national expert committee would arbitrate where councils dispute whether developers are offering the right range of properties. They would also be able to offer expert advice, and councils would be expected to consult the committee before approving any large site application in an area of high housing demand.

Bigger role for councils

Councils should be given the power to designate particular sites as ones which can only be developed as “large sites” – so developers have to follow the new planning rules.

Sir Oliver says the result of his recommendations for more diversity will mean landowners receiving less for their land.

To encourage more building, Sir Oliver recommends councils are given new powers to set up development companies.

Changes to take effect quickly

Sir Oliver recommends that developers are given financial incentives to offer a range of property types quickly.

He suggests there are conditions put on government funding for house developers or purchasers, if they do not voluntarily follow the new planning rules after 2021.

Once master plans have been produced, the developer may choose to sell off all or part of the site to developers.

The Queen has been pleased to appoint Mrs Susan Sheldon DL as Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight to succeed Major General Sir Martin White KCVO CB CBE when he retires on 25 March 2019.