146.— The Bankruptcy Act 1988 is amended by the substitution of the following for section 12:

“Petitioning creditor’s costs.

12.— (1) The petitioning creditor shall at his own cost present his petition and prosecute it until the statutory sitting referred to in section 17(3), and subject to subsection (2) the Court shall at or after the sitting make an order for the payment of such costs out of the estate of the bankrupt in course of priority to be settled by rules of court.

(2) In considering whether it is appropriate to make an order under subsection (1) the Court shall have regard to whether or not the petitioning creditor had unreasonably refused to accept proposals made in connection with a proposal for a Debt Settlement Arrangement or a Personal Insolvency Arrangement pursuant to the Personal Insolvency Act 2012.”.