Leases for hiring equipment may be priority or secondary debts, depending on your circumstances.
Check the agreement very carefully to see whether:
• you have the right to keep the equipment at the end of the lease; and
• if you will have to pay for the equipment for all of the period set out in the agreement whether you return it or not.
Under lease-hire agreements, the company which supplied the goods will always own the goods and will be responsible for repairs. Under lease-purchase agreements, if you pay a fee at the end of the leasing period, you will then own the equipment. Check with the leasing company if they will reduce your debt if you return the equipment. If you have the right to keep the equipment, or if you need the equipment to keep trading, you should treat the missed payments as a priority debt.
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