On Wednesday, in article

"Dave Roberts" wrote:

In article , Jim Webster
writes
actually for some people it is. Thank god I am not in that particular
boat but I know a lot of tenants who cannot get out because the sale of
their assets might not cover their liabilities, and even if it did they
would not be left with enough to put down the deposit on a house.
Indeed some have run into the problem that they are volunterily homeless
and therefore will not be put on the waiting list for council housing. A
lot of these people are clinging on, hoping that things will pick up
(farming moves in cycles and in ten or so years things will inevitably
look different,).
We saw with fmd that a lot of dairy farmers did get out, because the
people restocking were buying cattle and suddenly cattle had a value
again.

I couldn't say what proportion of farmers are in this particular bind,
perhaps 10%, perhaps more, but to be honest it is guessing.
Sounds like the decision to get out of farming might well be taken out
of their hands sooner or later.

Surely voluntary bankruptcy is the only realistic option for a business
in this sort of state. Hanging on to see if things are better in ten
years doesn't sound like a sound strategy.

Tough break I know...........

But look at the point Jim makes about being "voluntarily homeless".
Since the usual long-term farm tenancy automatically ceases in the event
of bankrupty, and the house is part of the farm...

This is not like somebody with a mortgage to pay. There are still some
limits on what the creditors can get their hands on.




--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.

"Let me get this straight. You're the KGB's core AI, but you're afraid
of a copyright infringement lawsuit over your translator semiotics?"
From "Lobsters" by Charles Stross.