(1)A creditor’s petition must be in respect of one or more debts owed by the debtor, and the petitioning creditor or each of the petitioning creditors must be a person to whom the debt or (as the case may be) at least one of the debts is owed.
(2)Subject to the next three sections, a creditor’s petition may be presented to the court in respect of a debt or debts only if, at the time the petition is presented—
(a)the amount of the debt, or the aggregate amount of the debts, is equal to or exceeds the bankruptcy level,
(b)the debt, or each of the debts, is for a liquidated sum payable to the petitioning creditor, or one or more of the petitioning creditors, either immediately or at some certain, future time, and is unsecured,
(c)the debt, or each of the debts, is a debt which 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 served (under section 268 below) in respect of the debt or any of the debts.
(3)A debt is not to be regarded for the purposes of subsection (2) as a debt for a liquidated sum by reason only that the amount of the debt is specified in a criminal bankruptcy order.
(4) “The bankruptcy level” is £5,000 but the Secretary of State may by order in a statutory instrument substitute any amount specified in the order for that amount or (as the case may be) for the amount which by virtue of such an order is for the time being the amount of the bankruptcy level.
(5)An order shall not be made under subsection (4) unless a draft of it has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.
Cases considering section 267 83
[2026] UKSC 29 · 27 July 2026Limits
The court construed debt according to its wide common law meaning. An immediate payment obligation created by a final and conclusive, unregistrable foreign money judgment may support a creditor's petition if the remaining statutory requirements are met (see paras [76]-[83]; [89]).
The subsection requires a creditor's petition to concern a debt owed by the debtor to the petitioning creditor. The foreign judgment obligation satisfied the necessary concept of debt (see paras [76]; [82]-[83]).
The subsection's cumulative conditions assume a debt and then prescribe the characteristics necessary for a petition. Those detailed conditions supported giving debt its general common law meaning (see paras [76]; [81]-[83]).
The Russian judgment sum exceeded the applicable bankruptcy level, satisfying the monetary threshold (see paras [28]; [81]).
A final and conclusive, unregistrable foreign money judgment creates an immediate legal obligation which is a debt for a liquidated sum payable to the judgment creditor. Prior recognition is unnecessary (see paras [76]-[83]; [89]).
The 1986 scheme requires that the debtor appear unable to pay the qualifying debt or have no reasonable prospect of paying it. This replaced the former dependence on acts of bankruptcy (see para [78]).
The subsection's specific exclusion of a sum specified only in a criminal bankruptcy order supported the conclusion that section 267 otherwise uses debt broadly (see para [81]).
The subsection supplies the bankruptcy-level threshold which a petition debt must exceed (see para [81]).
[2025] EWCA Civ 62 · 31 January 2025Interprets
The court held that section 267 does not create an autonomous concept of debt. It must be read with the general law, so an unrecognised foreign judgment does not create a debt capable of founding a bankruptcy petition. (see paras [38]-[44]; [55]; [68]-[69])
The requirement that a creditor’s petition be in respect of a debt does not encompass the payment obligation in an unrecognised foreign judgment. The court treated the absence of English enforceability as fatal to the existence of a qualifying debt. (see paras [55]-[56])
The court referred to the requirement that the petition debt be payable immediately or at a certain future time. A sum under an unrecognised foreign judgment is not so payable in England and Wales until recognition or another enforcement basis is obtained. (see para [55])
The court held that the statutory conditions for a petition do not displace general-law limits on what can amount to a debt. The provision does not permit enforcement through bankruptcy of an unrecognised foreign judgment. (see paras [38]-[44]; [55])
The court held that the statutory requirement for a liquidated sum payable to the petitioning creditor is not met by a sum ordered under an unrecognised foreign judgment. In English law it is not enforceable as such and is not payable for this purpose. (see paras [38]; [43]-[46]; [55])
[2023] EWCA Civ 1119 · 6 October 2023Defines
The court identified section 267 as the statutory framework governing creditor bankruptcy petitions, including creditor standing and the conditions for petitioning. (see paras [24], [31]-[33])
The court applied the requirement that a creditor’s petition must be presented by a person to whom the relevant debt is owed. A genuinely disputed debt normally prevents the petitioner establishing standing in the petition proceedings. (see paras [31]-[33])
The court applied the requirement that the petition debt be unsecured, subject to the statutory procedure for secured creditors. Non-compliance meant the order ought not to have been made but did not remove jurisdiction. (see paras [52]-[58])
63 more judgments, and what each says about section 267, are in the
case-law panel in the full Act.