Buying Catering Equipment From a Liquidation: Who Really Owns It

UK kitchens are closing at a pace nobody in this trade enjoys. Insolvency Service figures published in August 2026 show 3,221 accommodation and food service insolvencies in the twelve months to July, one in seven of all company failures in England and Wales. The British Beer and Pub Association counted 161 pubs gone for good in the first quarter of 2026 alone.

Every one of those closures puts a kitchen's worth of equipment on the market, and it lands cheap.

But an insolvency sale runs on rules of its own, every one favouring the seller. Here is how to buy without getting burned.

The Ownership Trap: Who Actually Owns That Combi?

This is the most expensive mistake on this page and almost nobody checks for it. A huge amount of catering kit sits on lease, hire purchase or finance, and going under does not make a rented combi the company's property.

• A liquidator cannot sell what the company did not own. Insolvency sales transfer only "such right, title and interest as the company may have", with no warranty of title. If its interest was nothing, that is what you bought.
• Financed kit goes home. If the oven you paid for belongs to a finance house, they can collect it, from your kitchen if necessary, and your comeback is in practice nil, because the terms excluded it.
• Check before money moves. Ask the practitioner in writing whether the item is owned outright, and search the company's charges register at Companies House, free, for finance secured on the business. Look the machine over for leasing company asset tags, and treat nearly new stock with suspicion, because recent supplies often carry retention of title back to the supplier.

Sold As Seen Means Exactly That

You are buying business to business, so the Consumer Rights Act 2015 does not apply, and the Sale of Goods Act protections on quality can be, and are, excluded in the small print. As seen, where lying, no warranty, no returns.

• Assume you cannot test it. Sites are often powered down before viewings, and a fridge you cannot hear run is worth less than one you can. Our guide on buying used commercial refrigeration covers what you can still check cold.
• View in person, always. Photograph the data plate, the interior and the worst corner. The listing photos were taken to sell it.

The Clock Starts the Moment You Pay

Closure sales come with short removal windows, sometimes the next working day, rarely more than a week, and the terms put everything on you.

• You clear it, you carry it. You bring the labour and lifting kit, and anything fixed down must be detached safely and lawfully at your cost. Miss the window and the kit can be forfeited with no refund.
• Gas comes off the wall legally or not at all. Disconnection counts as gas work under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, so it must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer holding commercial catering categories. The same applies at recommissioning, covered in our gas safety guide.
• Electric and water too. Three phase kit needs isolating by a competent electrician, and plumbed connections fall under the Water Fittings Regulations.
• VAT goes on top. If the failed company was VAT registered, the office holder charges VAT on top, so budget the price plus twenty percent.

What Is Worth Buying, and What Is Not

• Stainless fabrication is the safe money. Tables, sinks, shelving and gastronorm racking barely wear and need no service history. If the price is right, fill the van.
• Refrigeration is a fair bet cold, a good one running. Cabinets are simple, parts are common, and damage shows on inspection.
• Walk past the hard life machines. Fryers and gas ranges from a failed kitchen have worked brutal hours with no history, and nobody is left to ask. A missing data plate is a walk-away on its own.

A Closure Sale or a Living Seller

Be honest about the trade. A liquidation can be the cheapest kit in Britain, if every risk above lands your way. Buying new or used from a trading operator or dealer on a fixed price marketplace costs more and carries far less: the seller owns the machine, answers questions, shows it running, and collection works like a normal sale. On CaterBids, sellers photograph the data plate and CaterBot fills in specs, dimensions and a pallet delivery quote automatically, information a closure sale never gives you. If you are the one closing or downsizing, the seller's version of this guide is the better read.

Before You Pay

• Insolvency practitioner's written confirmation the item is owned outright
• Companies House charges register checked for finance over the equipment
• Machine viewed in person and the data plate photographed
• Removal window, access and disconnection responsibility confirmed in writing
• Gas Safe engineer with commercial catering categories booked for disconnection
• VAT budgeted on top of the price
• Van, labour and lifting kit arranged inside the window

Closure stock rewards the prepared and punishes the hopeful. Check who owns it, price it as seen, clear it on time, and it can be the buy of the year. BUY • SELL • SAVE only works when what you bought was actually theirs to sell.

Rather Buy From a Seller Who Owns It?

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