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Contents

Part II · Personal Insolvency: Principles

34. Protected Property

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

(1)

The categories of property of a debtor listed under subsection (4) are protected property, for the purposes of-

(a)

determining the debtor’s eligibility for a Debt

Rehabilitation Order under section 66;

(b)

establishing terms of a Debt Restructuring

Arrangement under section 46; and

(c)

determining the composition of the Bankruptcy

Estate under section 115.

(2)

Protected property under this section-

(a)

shall not form part of the Bankruptcy Estate under section 115;

(b)

shall not constitute after-acquired property under section 117; and

(c)

shall be excluded from the calculation of available property under section 46.

(3)

Under section 46, the terms of Debt Restructuring

Arrangement shall not provide for the sale of any protected property of the debtor, for the benefit of creditors or intermediaries.

Rescue, Rehabilitation and Insolvency

(4)

In addition to the protection of a debtor’s reasonable income under section 36, the categories of protected property are —

(a)

the debtor’s necessary household furniture and effects, including clothing, for the debtor and the debtor’s relatives and dependants;

(b)

the debtor’s necessary tools of trade, business, and agriculture;

(c)

where the debtor is engaged in agriculture, such quantity of agricultural land as may be necessary for providing for the needs in support of the debtor and his or her dependants;

(d)

professional instruments and library necessary for the carrying on of the debtor’s profession or business, of such value as may be prescribed;

(e)

books of accounts;

(f)

mere rights to sue for damages;

(g)

any right of personal service;

(h)

any expectancy of succession by survivorship or other merely contingent or possible right of interest;

(i)

a right to future maintenance and all maintenance, alimony and costs ordered in matrimonial suits or maintenance actions;

(j)

any house or other dwelling, together with such extent of land appurtenant thereto as the court may consider necessary for its enjoyment, which is not mortgaged as security for the payment of the whole or part of the sum claimed in a personal insolvency procedure which —

Rescue, Rehabilitation and Insolvency

(i)

is the actual residence of the debtor at the time of the procedure; and

(ii)

has been such residence from the time of the initiation of the procedure;

(k)

the amount lying to the credit of an employee’s individual account, any other provident fund, employee trust fund or pension established for the benefit of employees in any employment, to the extent specified in section 35;

(l)

the debtor’s tenancy under a short-term residential rental accommodation agreement;

(m)

property held by a debtor on trust for any other person; and

(n)

such other categories of property as may be prescribed.

(5)

Where a house or other dwelling, which is the actual residence of the debtor, is mortgaged as security for the payment of a sum claimed by a secured creditor in a personal insolvency procedure —

(a)

the interest of the secured creditor in the house or dwelling is limited to the amount of indebtedness outstanding in favour of the secured creditor; and

(b)

any remaining interest of the debtor in the house or dwelling, where the value of the house or dwelling exceeds the amount of indebtedness outstanding in favour of the secured creditor, shall constitute protected property.

(6)

Where a debtor has acquired possession of an item falling within paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (4) by means of a hire-purchase agreement, lease agreement or

Rescue, Rehabilitation and Insolvency other form of finance agreement, the interest of the debtor under the hire-purchase agreement, lease agreement, or other form of finance agreement, shall constitute protected property, and shall not be available for the benefit of general creditors.

(7)

Under this Act, it shall not be appropriate to contemplate the potential sale of any protected property of the debtor for the purposes of determining whether the debtor is unable to pay his or her debts as they become due.

(8)

In a Personal Insolvency Procedure, “insolvency-related term” is a provision of an agreement for the supply of any essential goods or services to a debtor under which –

(a)

the agreement or the supply would terminate, or any other thing would take place; or

(b)

the supplier would be entitled to terminate the agreement or the supply, or to do any other thing, due to the commencement of the personal insolvency procedure.

Part III

Debt Protection Moratorium Order

Part IV

Debt Restructuring Arrangements

Part V

Debt Rehabilitation Orders

Part VI

Part VII

Personal Insolvency Register

Part VIII

Part IX

Part X

Compromises

Part XI

Micro Small Medium Enterprise (MSME) Company Debt Restructuring Arrangements

Part XII

Part XIII

Part XIV

Cross - Border Insolvency

Part XV

Part XVI

Part XVII

Schedules