Section 17 of Insolvency Act CAP 53: Creditor may apply for bankruptcy order in respect of debtor
(1) One or more creditors of a debtor may make an application to the Court for a bankruptcy order to be made in respect of the debtor in relation to a debt or debts owed by the debtor to the creditor or creditors.
(2) Such an application may be made in relation to a debt or debts owed by the debtor only if, at the time the application is made—
(a) the amount of the debt, or the aggregate amount of the debts, is equal to or exceeds the prescribed bankruptcy level;
(b) the debt, or each of the debts, is for a liquidated amount payable to the applicant creditor, or one or more of the applicant creditors, either immediately or at some certain, future time, and is unsecured;
(c) the debt, or each of the debts, is a debt that the debtor appears either to be unable to pay or to have no reasonable prospect of being able to pay; and
(d) there is no outstanding application to set aside a statutory demand in respect of the debt or any of the debts.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(c), a debtor appears to be unable to pay a debt if, but only if, the debt is payable immediately and either—
(a) the applicant creditor to whom the debt is owed has served on the debtor a demand requiring the debtor to pay the debt or to secure or compound for it to the satisfaction of the creditor, at least twenty-one days have elapsed since the demand was served, and the demand has been neither complied with nor set aside in accordance with the insolvency regulations; or
(b) execution or other process issued in respect of the debt on a judgment or order of any court in favour of the applicant, or one or more of the applicants to whom the debt is owed, has been returned unsatisfied either wholly or in part.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (2)(c), a debtor appears to have no reasonable prospect of being able to pay a debt if, but only if, the debt is not immediately payable and—
(a) the applicant to whom it is owed has served on the debtor a demand requiring the debtor to establish to the satisfaction of the creditor that there is a reasonable prospect that the debtor will be able to pay the debt when it falls due;
(b) at least twenty-one days have elapsed since the demand was served; and
(c) the demand has been neither complied with nor set aside in accordance with the insolvency regulations.
(5) This section is subject to sections 18 to 20.
(6) An overstatement in a statutory demand of the amount owing by the debtor does not invalidate the demand unless—
(a) the debtor notifies the creditor that the debtor disputes the validity of the demand because it overstates the amount owing; and
(b) the debtor makes that notification within the period specified in the demand for the debtor to comply with it.
(7) A debtor complies with a demand that overstates the amount owing by—
(a) taking steps that would have complied with the demand had it stated the correct amount owing, such as by paying the creditor the correct amount owing plus costs; and
(b) taking those steps within the period specified in the demand for the debtor to comply.
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