you say that there are only three creditors but you don't give an indication as to the amounts involved, whether litigation is already involved or what assets needs to be liquidated in order to satisfy the debt.
The following response is just general points that you may wish to consider.
The issue with insolvency, as with Statutory audit (and unlike bookkeeping and accountancy) is that it's a protected qualification.
Insolvency practitioners need to jump through a lot of additional burning hoops and pay considerably increased practice licence fee's to their supervisory bodies (which will be at chartered / chartered certified level) and the PII insurance isn't cheap either.
That said, some consideration should be taken of the size of the entity being liquidated. Although in these days with quite a bit of liquidation work around they will also consider the opportunity cost of work that they need to give up in order to consider the liquidation at hand.
You could try shopping around amongst the liquidators but if they're local they will talk to each other so you may find all the fee's coming in at the same level.
You may find a situation where going to one of the bigger firms works out cheaper than a local practice that is geared up to take on insolvency work (but don't hold me to that statement and also don't assume that even just getting a quote will always be free!).
Another question you may need to ask is whether the quoted £6000 fee is inclusive of all additional required charges such as valuers fee's. I suspect that it probably isn't.
Hope that helps,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I totally agree with the comments above. As with all professional services businesses, the running coats can be very high.
In terms of prices these days, most insolvency practices (including ourselves) charge around £5,000 (plus vat). However with cases where there is little work involved the fee is likely to be reduced. There aren't many practices out there who will charge £3k from three years ago, but most will be flexible, including ourselves with the fees to make it more viable and appropriate to the company an directors.
What you also should bear in mind is that some companies will charge you a lower fee "to get you through the door" but then will look to recoup costs later on, by carrying out detailed and thorough investigations which can result it recovery of funds from directors for various other actions. You should therefore not always go for the lowest price.
If anyone wants an explanation of fees please contact me privately. Thanks.
