A guide to company restoration

There are, generally speaking, two ways in which to restore a company which has been dissolved, or struck off, to the Register of Companies at Companies House and the procedures involved are governed by the Companies Act 2006.

Administrative restoration

This is where a company is restored without the need for an application to be made to the court and instead an application is made to the Registrar of Companies.

To be eligible to use this procedure, you must meet certain criteria as follows:

• Have been a director or shareholder of the company
• The company must have been struck off and dissolved within the last 6 years
• The company must have been trading and in business at the time of dissolution
• The company must have been struck off by the Registrar of Companies using Section 1000 or Section 1001 of the Companies Act 2006. (These sections relate to filing certain company documentation)

This restoration procedure can generally only be used for straightforward restorations, for example, where an actively trading company has failed to make the necessary filings required of it with Companies House and has therefore been struck off the register by the Registrar of Companies.

This manner of restoration is usually finalised fairly quickly.

You cannot use this method if the company has been voluntarily struck off.

If you are not eligible to use this method, you will need to use the alternative procedure of obtaining a court order for restoration of the company name as follows:-

Restoration by Order of the Court

Under this method, additional documentation is required, the process will take longer and you do not need to be a director or shareholder to make an application.

In summary, additional documentation will be required, namely a Claim Form and witness statement detailing the reasons for requiring restoration. These documents will need to be sent to the court. Common examples of reasons for restoration to take place in this way include where assets and money remain in the company and access is required to claim and withdraw that money.

The procedure involves liaising with the Registrar of Companies and the Treasury Solicitor to deal with any requirements they may have and deal with any undertakings.

Once all documents have been prepared and all requirements dealt with, the matter can then usually be dealt with by the court and an order made for the company name to be restored.

Further guidance and support

If you require any assistance with the topics covered in this article, please contact Frances Cutler or a member of the Commercial Dispute Resolution team who will be happy to help with any questions you may have.

Our team of dispute resolution solicitors are based in Maidstone and Canterbury and are ready to help with any legal advice you may require so please get in touch.

The information contained in this document provides background information only. The document may be misleading if relied upon as an exhaustive list of the legal issues involved. If any matter referred to in this document is sought to be relied upon, further information should be sought.

This content is correct at time of publication