NSW Fair Trading has rejected a licence application from a Newcastle concreting firm over concerns its owner might have traded while insolvent before his former company collapsed in December owing $1.7 million.
Stein England registered Clean Cut Civil NSW Pty Ltd on November 16 last year, 19 days before a liquidator was appointed to wind up another of his companies, SJE Contracting, on December 5.
The Newcastle Herald spoke to seven contractors and building company managers who alleged they were owed money by one or both companies or had been involved in other disputes with Mr England over defective work, delays and finances.
One company owner said his business was owed about $80,000. Others said they were owed money for work completed at Mr England's house at Garden Suburb.
"It hurt us, too. Nearly sent us broke, actually," one small contractor said of an allegedly unpaid SJE bill late last year.
Some of the firms, including Melbourne's Roxton Constructions and Sydney firm Westbury Constructions, are involved in government and commercial projects worth tens of millions of dollars.
SJE's creditors include Boral Group, Westpac and Metro Finance.
Mr England also faces battles on other fronts, including an Environment Protection Authority notice to remove 10 tonnes of asbestos waste he allegedly dumped at his Prospect Road property and a string of looming court appearances on allegations of stalking, breaching AVOs and threatening serious harm.
The liquidator, Mitchell Griffiths, wrote in a report to creditors in March that his "preliminary view" was that SJE had been trading while insolvent from June 1 to December 5, racking up debts of between $500,000 and $1 million in that time.
Mr Griffiths said he had reached that view due to the company's poor cash flow, accumulating debt, excess liabilities over assets, difficulty in realising debtors and special arrangements with selected creditors.
He told creditors he had submitted a confidential report to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission outlining his concerns about the company's operations.
NSW Fair Trading cancelled SJE's contractor licence on April 26, noting in a "notice of cancellation" that SJE had not told the agency about the liquidation and had "continued to trade" after December 5.
Mr England applied for a company contractor licence for Clean Cut Civil on December 15, informing Fair Trading in his application that SJE had gone bust.
The agency refused Clean Cut Civil a licence on March 31, determining Mr England was "not a fit and proper person to hold a contractor licence" because he "may have been trading as an insolvent contractor".
"Stein England did not provide sufficient evidence to satisfy Fair Trading that Stein England took all reasonable steps to avoid the liquidation or appointment of a controller or administrator," the agency's refusal notice says.
"Stein England did not provide sufficient evidence to satisfy Fair Trading that there is no evident risk to the public that Stein England will be unable to complete contracts entered into in the future to do residential building work or specialist work."
Clean Cut Civil has an active Instagram account including videos of its work on building sites as recently as April 20.
The images and videos on the account date back to February 2022, before Clean Cut Civil was registered, and some show SJE-branded vehicles.
Mr Griffiths said his firm's investigations into whether SJE traded while insolvent were ongoing.
He said ASIC did not plan to investigate SJE further but this "may change should our further investigation identify any issues".
Mr Griffiths' report to creditors estimated SJE had liabilities of $1.74 million, including $1.388 million owed to unsecured creditors destined to receive between zero and six cents in the dollar.
Mr England is due to appear in Belmont Court on Monday on five charges: breaching a domestic apprehended violence order; destroying property; stalking or intimidating with the intent of conveying fear of harm; using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend; and using a carriage service to threaten serious harm.
The court will consider on the same day an AVO application against Mr England on behalf of his former friend and business associate Matt Roberts.
Mr England will be back in Belmont Court on June 30 facing four other counts of breaching domestic AVOs.
The EPA notice issued to Mr England last year required him to remove the asbestos waste from his Garden Suburb property by October 14, but on October 26 he told the EPA that "due to personal circumstances removal of the remaining waste would be financially unviable by the required due dates".
The EPA agreed to a "staged" removal of the waste until November 15 this year, including a minimum removal of 35 cubic metres a month.
The Newcastle Herald contacted Mr England for comment.
A lawyer acting for Mr England said in a letter to the Newcastle Herald: "Our client's business had suffered from a downturn during the COVID period, and he has been attempting to restructure and repay his creditors in a timely fashion."
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