Praetor

Reading Praetor

Not stated: The source does not give this figure. Praetor never fills a gap with an estimate, so a missing figure is shown as missing.
At least: The title matched several rating entries equally well, for example an address that covers several units. Praetor shows the lowest of their values, so the true figure is this or more.
First seen: When Praetor first recorded the title or listing. It is not the date of any event at the property.
Since: The date of the event that put the title at its stage, as the source gives it: for example the day receivers or administrators were appointed, the day the owner was dissolved, or the day overdue accounts were due.
New this week: Titles whose current stage Praetor first recorded in the last 7 days. A title that moves to a more advanced stage counts again.
Deal pack: A printable summary of one property: the facts, who controls the sale, and the source of each fact. Use your browser to save it as a PDF.
Saved search: A search kept under a name. Praetor counts what is new in it since you last opened it.
Source: The public record a fact comes from, linked where the record has its own page. Every fact on Praetor has one.
How to approach: Who can agree a sale now, and every way the public records give to reach them, best first: a telephone or email published for the purpose, then postal addresses, then searches. The draft is a starting point to edit and send yourself; Praetor sends nothing for you.
Reservation: Holds an owner for you on Praetor for 30 days: no other Praetor client is shown its routes or can log or send an approach to it through Praetor meanwhile. It lapses after 7 days if you have logged no approach. It does not stop anyone outside Praetor from contacting the owner, and an office holder must still market a property to get the best price for creditors.
Contact log: Your record of each approach to an owner: how, to whom, what happened and when to follow up. Only you and Praetor analysts see your entries. Other clients see only how many clients approached an owner in the last 30 days, never who.
Region: In the UK, the region HM Land Registry gives for the title. In Spain, the province, taken from the announcement or, when it gives none, from the court or tax office that runs the auction.

United Kingdom: stages

Stage: How far the owner's distress has gone, and so who can sell the property now. From most to least advanced: control has passed, owner dissolved, under pressure, under strain. Each title shows its most advanced stage.
Control has passed: Someone other than the directors now decides a sale: receivers appointed by a lender, or administrators or liquidators appointed over the company. They usually want to sell, and they are the people to approach.
Owner dissolved: The owning company no longer exists but the title still names it. The property generally passes to the Crown (Bona Vacantia), which can sell it. If the company is restored to the register, the property returns to it.
Under pressure: The directors still decide, but under pressure: a winding-up petition, a moratorium, a voluntary arrangement, a proposal to strike the company off, or receivers over another of its charges. A quick sale can help such an owner.
Under strain: The owner is behind with its filings at Companies House (accounts or confirmation statement overdue). That alone is not distress, but it often comes first.
Who controls the sale: The person or body that can agree a sale now, named from the Gazette notice or the Companies House record: receivers, administrators, liquidators, supervisors of an arrangement, the Crown for a dissolved owner, or otherwise the owner's directors.
Receivers: Appointed by a lender under its charge to collect rent or sell the charged property to repay the loan. They must take reasonable care to get the best price reasonably obtainable.
Administrators: Licensed insolvency practitioners who take control of a company to rescue it or get a better result for its creditors. They can sell its property.
Liquidators: Licensed insolvency practitioners who close a company and sell its assets for its creditors. Directors' powers end when they are appointed.
Bona Vacantia: The Government Legal Department's division that deals with the property of dissolved companies, which passes to the Crown. In the areas of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall, the Duchy takes that role.
IP number: An insolvency practitioner's licence number, printed in Gazette notices. Praetor uses it to tell practitioners with the same name apart.
Titles by region and stage: How many watchlist titles are at each of the three active stages in each region. Each number opens those titles.

United Kingdom: why a title is at its stage

Receivers over a charge that names this title: A lender appointed receivers under a charge whose particulars list this title number, so the receivers can sell this property.
Receivers over another of the owner's charges: A lender appointed receivers over a charge that does not name this title. The owner is under pressure, but those receivers cannot sell this property.
Administration: The company is run by administrators, who decide on any sale.
Administrative receivership: A receiver appointed by a lender over the whole of the company's business, under an older form of security. The receiver decides on sales.
Compulsory liquidation: A court ordered the company wound up, usually on a creditor's petition. The Official Receiver or an appointed liquidator sells its assets.
Creditors' voluntary liquidation: The insolvent company's shareholders chose to wind it up, and a liquidator sells its assets for the creditors.
Members' voluntary liquidation: A solvent company is being closed by its shareholders. A liquidator sells or hands out its assets; this is not distress, but the property may still come up for sale.
Liquidation: The company is being wound up and a liquidator controls its assets. The record does not say which kind of liquidation.
Insolvency proceedings: Companies House records the company as subject to insolvency proceedings, without naming the kind. An office holder usually decides on sales.
Winding-up petition: A creditor has asked the court to wind the company up, and the petition was advertised in the Gazette. The directors still decide until the court rules, but the company is under heavy pressure.
Moratorium: A short legal pause on creditor action while the company tries to rescue itself, overseen by a monitor. The directors still run the company.
Company voluntary arrangement: A deal with creditors to repay part of what is owed over time, run by a supervisor. The directors keep running the company, and selling property is often part of the plan.
Proposal to strike off: Companies House has given notice that the company will be removed from the register, either because it has not filed documents or because its directors applied to close it. Once removed, it is dissolved.
Accounts overdue: The owner's annual accounts were due at Companies House and have not been filed.
Confirmation statement overdue: The owner's yearly confirmation of its details at Companies House was due and has not been filed.

United Kingdom: signals

Distress signal: A fact about the owner read from Companies House or the Gazette that points to financial trouble, each with its date and source. The number in brackets is how many signals the owner has now.
Strong signal: The owner is in liquidation, administration, receivership, insolvency proceedings or a voluntary arrangement at Companies House, is dissolved, or had a winding-up petition, winding-up order, administration or creditors' liquidation notice in the last two years.
Moderate signal: A proposal to strike the owner off, overdue accounts, no current director, a members' voluntary liquidation in the last two years, or an insolvency notice with no date.
Weak signal: An overdue confirmation statement, a director who resigned in the last 90 days, or an older or minor notice.
Strength: Strong, moderate or weak, by how closely the fact is tied to a sale: an insolvency or dissolution is strong, overdue accounts or no director moderate, an overdue confirmation statement or a recent resignation weak.
Distress events: The Gazette notices and Companies House insolvency cases recorded for the owner, each with its date and a link to the notice or case.
Changes of ownership recorded: What HM Land Registry's monthly company ownership files showed for the title since Praetor began watching it: registered to a new company, gone from the files (often sold to a person, who is not in these files), or back in them.

United Kingdom: the title

Watchlist: Titles in England and Wales owned by companies, from HM Land Registry, that match an entry in the business rates list with a rateable value of £50,000 or more and a commercial use: office, retail, industrial, hotel, leisure, healthcare or mixed use.
Title: The HM Land Registry title number, the unique reference of a registered property. One building can have several titles, and one title several buildings.
Address: The property's address as HM Land Registry records it on the title.
Place: The local authority district and postcode HM Land Registry gives for the title.
Sector: Office, retail, industrial, hotel, leisure, healthcare or mixed use, from the description of the rating entry the title matched in the Valuation Office Agency's list.
Tenure: Freehold (owned outright) or leasehold (held under a lease for a term), as HM Land Registry records it.
Rateable value: The Valuation Office Agency's figure for the yearly rent the property could have let for on 1 April 2021, used for business rates (2023 rating list). It is the agency's official figure, not a Praetor estimate or a market value.
Rating entries matched: How many entries in the business rates list the title's address matched. More than one means the address covers several rated units; Praetor shows the lowest value, marked at least.
Floor area: From the Valuation Office Agency's summary valuation of the matched rating entry, in square metres, with the basis it was measured on (NIA, GIA, GEA, ITZA and so on).
NIA (net internal area): The usable floor space inside the walls, without stairs, lifts, toilets or plant rooms. Used for offices and many shops.
GIA (gross internal area): All the floor space inside the external walls, including stairs and toilets. Used for industrial buildings and warehouses.
GEA (gross external area): The floor space measured to the outside of the external walls.
ITZA (in terms of zone A): A way of valuing shops that weights the front of the shop more heavily. It is a valuation unit, not the floor area, so it is left out of floor area searches.
Price paid: The price HM Land Registry records with the title, paid when the current owner was registered. It is given for about one title in ten, and it may be years old.
Prices paid nearby: Other titles of the same sector in the same postcode district with a recorded price paid, and the date that owner was registered. Evidence for your own valuation, not a valuation.
Owner: The company HM Land Registry names as proprietor of the title.
VOA description: How the Valuation Office Agency describes the rated property, for example "Warehouse and premises".
VOA reference: The billing authority's reference of the matched rating entry, as the Valuation Office Agency lists it.
Left the ownership files: The title is no longer in HM Land Registry's company ownership files, usually because it was sold to a person or the company was removed as owner. Praetor keeps its record and takes it off the watchlist.
Ownership files (CCOD and OCOD): HM Land Registry's monthly lists of land in England and Wales owned by UK companies (CCOD) and by overseas companies (OCOD), with the owner, address, tenure and, for some, the price paid.
Addresses for service: The addresses, up to three, at which the owner asked HM Land Registry to be contacted about the title. An address marked c/o is usually its solicitor or managing agent.

United Kingdom: the owner and its people

Status: The company's status on the Companies House register, for example active, liquidation, administration or dissolved.
Accounts next due: When the company must next file its annual accounts at Companies House. Marked overdue once that day has passed without them.
Confirmation statement next due: When the company must next confirm its details (officers, shareholders, address) at Companies House.
Insolvency history: Whether Companies House has any insolvency case for the company, past or present.
Charges: Security the company gave a lender over its property, registered at Companies House. Outstanding means not yet repaid; satisfied means repaid. A lender with an outstanding charge can appoint receivers if the loan is not repaid.
SIC codes: The standard industry codes the company gave Companies House for its business.
Overseas entity: A company registered outside the UK. Since 2022 such owners of UK land must also be on the Register of Overseas Entities.
People to approach: The owner's current directors and the people or companies that control it, from the Companies House register, with their service addresses and other companies they run.
Directors and officers: The people and companies appointed to run the company, as the Companies House register lists them, with the date each was appointed.
Professional nominee: An officer with more than 100 appointments at Companies House, usually a company formation or management service rather than someone who runs the business.
Persons with significant control: The people or companies that hold more than 25% of the shares or votes, can appoint or remove the directors, or otherwise control the company, as declared at Companies House.
Service address: The address an officer gave Companies House for official letters. It is often an office or an agent, not where they live.
Other companies they run: The officer's other appointments at Companies House. Useful to see who else to talk to and what else they own.
Websites and published contacts: Websites Praetor found that print the company number of the owner, a company controlling it or a company its directors run, with the telephone numbers and email addresses those pages publish. No address is guessed.
Practitioner contact: The firm, telephone and email printed in the latest Gazette notice that names the insolvency practitioner.

Spain: auctions

BOE: The Boletín Oficial del Estado, Spain's official state gazette, where court and public bodies announce their auctions.
On the auction portal: The announcement points to subastas.boe.es, where the asset, the amounts and the dates are published. Praetor does not read that portal yet, so these figures are shown there, not here.
Pending: The announcement document has not been read yet; the figure will appear once it is.
Auction: Who runs the auction: a court (to enforce a debt, in an insolvency, or at the owner's request), the tax agency, the Social Security Treasury, or another public body selling its own property.
Opening bid: The starting price of the auction (tipo de licitación or valor de subasta) as the announcement states it.
Appraisal: The valuation the announcement gives (valor de tasación), often set in the mortgage deed years before. It is not a current market value.
Deposit: The sum a bidder must lodge to take part, as the announcement states it.
Minimum bid: The lowest bid the announcement says will be accepted (puja mínima), where it gives one.
Ends: When bidding closes, as the announcement states it.
Status: Live: announced, open or suspended. Ended: closed, awarded, declared void for lack of bids, or cancelled. A later notice about an auction updates its status.
Asset type: What is being sold, as the announcement describes it: commercial premises, offices, industrial, land, homes and so on.
Cadastral reference: The property's 20-character reference in Spain's Catastro, the official property survey. It identifies the property for a registry search.
Charges: Debts and rights recorded against the property as the announcement lists them (mortgages, embargoes, usufructs). In a court auction, charges ranking ahead of the one being enforced generally stay with the property, so the buyer takes them on.
Lots: One announcement can sell several properties, each a lot with its own figures and bidding.
After the auction: What the law allows once bidding has closed, by kind of auction: for example the creditor asking for the property when there were no bids, or the debtor bringing a better buyer when the best bid is low. Confirm the dates with a Spanish lawyer before acting.
Auction value: The valor de subasta, the reference figure the court rules on percentages of (for example 70% or 50% of it) when it decides what happens after the auction.
Price: Whether the announcement itself states the amounts. Court and tax auctions usually publish theirs only on the auction portal.

Spain: insolvencies

BORME: The Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil, Spain's companies registry gazette. It publishes insolvency declarations, liquidations and the administrators appointed.
Position: Where the company stands in its insolvency (concurso), from its latest BORME entry: insolvency declared, in liquidation, concluded, or registry sheet closed.
Insolvency declared: A court has declared the company insolvent and appointed an insolvency administrator. Its assets are sold in liquidation or under an agreement with creditors.
In liquidation: The administrator realises the company's assets for its creditors. Sales can be direct or by auction, under the liquidation plan.
Insolvency concluded: The insolvency has ended.
Registry sheet closed: The companies registry closed the company's record provisionally, for a revoked tax number or unfiled accounts. It is not an insolvency.
Insolvency administrator: The administrador concursal, a lawyer, economist, auditor or firm named by the court. They control the sale of the insolvent company's property and are the people to approach.
Procedure and court: The number of the insolvency case (concurso) and the commercial court that runs it, as BORME prints them.
Name suggests property: The company's name contains a property word such as inmobiliaria, promociones, patrimonial or hotel. Spain has no open register of what a company owns, so this is a flag for a Land Registry search, not a finding.
Registry sheet: The number of the company's record (hoja) at the provincial companies registry.
NIF: The Spanish tax identification number, printed after an administrator's name when BORME gives it.
Property found at the Land Registry: Property an analyst found recorded to the company at the Spanish Land Registry, through a nota simple (an extract of one property) or an owner index search (what a company owns), with the charges recorded.
Court auctions: Auctions Praetor reads in the BOE that belong to the same insolvency case.