But Remember, You have the Rest of You life to be found Out

_________________
" A Hundred Years From Now It will not Matter what my Bank Acount Was,
The Sort Of House I Lived in, Or The Kind Of Car I drove ... But The World May Be A Better Place
Because I was Once Important In The Life Of A Child"

As of this morning I can find no ASIC notice indicating that:

Kent Engineering Company (SA) Proprietary Limited

Woodville, South Australia

ACN 007 530 403

ABN 33 007 530 403

is in Receivership or in any other form of arrangement.

Therefore, contrary to what the person standing outside the premises said, it appears they are NOT in receivership

A check of ringing their phone number indicates (as others have noted) that they say they cannot answer as they are in the midst of "moving premises".

I suspect this may be code for 'in dispute with their Landlord, and they are figuring out what the hell to do?'... although none of this helps the OP.

If you don't already know the names of the Principals of the business, then it is possible online via an ASIC information broker to find out (for a small fee). That way you then will have the names of the Directors, and can try and chase them down for how you might get your gearbox returned?

Hope this helps a little?

Cheers

Davo

PS. As far as I can ascertain, Kent Brake & Clutch is simply a registered business or trading name, however the legal entity is the abovenamed Company.

_________________
1965 Mk1 Cooper S Sprint/Hillclimb/Rally Car
2012 Land Rover Defender 90

Ok, called into Kent on way to work this morning. Still all closed up but there are a couple of notices stuck on the front door.

‘Warrant of Distrain’ – anyone know what that means?

‘Notice of Termination and Re Entry’ – which I gather means termniation of the lease and denial of re-entry.

Looks like they have not paid the lease for two months and owe $18,750 to Olatest Pty Ltd. There’s the name and address of a Subrosa Commercial Agency, who from their website appear to be private and commercial investigators.

_________________
Slide
1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)

"Warrant of Distraint" means that the landlords have/are going to seize the tenants property and sell it to get the rent they are owed.

Hopefully they can tell the difference between the tenants property and yours


Tim

_________________
1951 Morris Commercial J Type Van
1955 BSA C11G
1961 Morris Mini Traveller
1969 Triumph TR6R
1977 Leyland Moke Californian

OK.... You will need to get hopping!

A Warrant of Distraint is a mechanism whereby property owners can sieze goods in a property they own to potentially sell at auction towards gaining restitution of monies owed to them.

From what I understand in South Australian law (which isn't much as I've never practiced there), you have five days from the issue of the Warrant to make claim against the property owner for goods you have a prior interest in.

Clearly you have a prior interest in the gearbox you left there and you should now make immediate contact with Olatest Pty Limited. The first port of call for this will be via their Agents, the Subrosa Commercial Agency.

Unlike a Receiver/Manager, they have no right to collect any monies you might owe Kent Brake & Clutch for work they may have to date done on your gearbox. That is a different transaction, and even if you manage to collect your gearbox, you will still owe that money to Kent (assuming they have done the work?).

Rather, with Olatest/Subrosa, it is simply a matter of proving you have prior rights in relation to the gearbox. i.e. You own it and the only reason it was with Kent was because they were to perform services on it.

How you prove ownership is of course possibly difficult, however failing you having for instance a quote or receipt from Kent that refers to your gearbox, I'd suggest simply doing Statutory Declaration and get that witnessed before a JP and try using that?

Stat Dec form for SA here

Good luck! If you act carefully, quickly and reasonably you should have no problems. The Landlords dispute is with Kent Engineering and not with you. Your gearbox will be of no interest to them.

Cheers

David

_________________
1965 Mk1 Cooper S Sprint/Hillclimb/Rally Car
2012 Land Rover Defender 90

brick the window or kiss ur box good bye , no not the hairy box either

_________________
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying "Damn...that was fun!"

Well said "davo" what a thorough and professional reply, not like some :'( :'( :'(

_________________

ditto

_________________
David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Hello again,

I hope you don't mind, but I've done a little digging today on behalf of the OP.

I have the Company information from ASIC for both companies, including shareholdings. Those documents reveal that Olatest is in fact a shareholder in Kent Engineering (as are a whole bunch of people, all named Smith, whom I presume are the descendants (or widow) of the original proprietor, Reginald Walter Smith).

Just out of interest, the sole Director in Kent Engineering (Grant Reginald Smith) is also a shareholder in Olatest... and the sole Director in Olatest (Kent Walter Smith) is also a shareholder in Kent Engineering.

The whole set-up, with various trusts and other arrangements involved, looks very much like how a significant family business would be shared following the death of the prime person or founder of such business? I'm not saying this is the case here. Rather, that the ownership structure and cross-shareholdings appear as if this could be the situation?

On the basis of the cross-shareholdings and ultimately shared family interests, I very much doubt that your gearbox is in any serious risk as no one involved, whom I guess are brothers would want to risk the goodwill in the family business by pissing off the most important asset of that business. i.e. its customers! However, I still think it would be wise to make contact with Olatest, either directly or via its commercial agents, just to make sure you formally lay claim to your gearbox. As mentioned in a previous post, a Stat Dec is likely going to be the best way.

Finally a note to moderators. I appreciate I have mentioned by name some people here. Please note ALL information I have given is publicly available from registers held by ASIC. Other than that, conclusions and/or assumptions reached are my own. They do NOT constitute legal advice, and are simply provided to assist a fellow Mini enthusiast to understand that he need not fret too much, that it should be quite straightforward to reclaim his gearbox, and on the basis of the now known details, it seems unlikely (at least in my opinion) that there is any real risk towards his personal property (i.e. gearbox).

If the OP wants copies of the documents I sourced from ASIC, please make contact (FWIW they cost me $27.00 in total). Although please note I am off to the footy tonight to watch the Cats and the Dons, so will be out of touch until much later.

Cheers

David

_________________
1965 Mk1 Cooper S Sprint/Hillclimb/Rally Car
2012 Land Rover Defender 90

Thanks David for all your efforts and good advice, much appreciated.

I visited Surosa Ltd office in Hindley St at lunchtime today and the office manager was well aware of the dispute. He gave me the names of the two brothers who owned the property [not the busienss] - Grant and Kent Smith along with their phone numbers.

I called Kent who assured me that the customers of the business would not be disadvantaged and to ring Grant to arrange to get entry to the premises and retireve my goods. I have left a message on Grant's mobile to call me back.

Interestingly, the workshop foreman who was doing the work on my box is called Phil Smith.

However the name that appears on the Warrant of Distrain stuck on Kent's front door is one David Butler who I presumed was the business owner who had not paid his rent for the past 2 months and who has now been locked out.

Either way, things are starting to look a bit more positive.

_________________
Slide
1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)

Great News you and your gearbox should be reunited soon .

_________________
Project Pickles is ALIVE!!!!! Click Here!
Success is so much sweeter after the struggle

All good news!

I can only now presume that this David Butler may well be someone that has acquired the business and trading name but not the Company itself? (That's quite normal BTW, though it is unusual a search didn't identify those transactions and change in Proprietorship?)

Anyway, it's great news and all the best! Glad I could ehlp at least a little?

David

_________________
1965 Mk1 Cooper S Sprint/Hillclimb/Rally Car
2012 Land Rover Defender 90

Good to see that someone could help out , well done Davo .

Well done slide, and also Davo. That is a great outcome.

_________________
SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Well done that man - Davo - the Ausmini spirit is strong in this one

_________________
Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges