When a Limited Company or Limited Liability Partnership is dissolved, its remaining assets pass to the Crown. A dissolved company's assets or goods are ownerless; a legal concept called bona vacantia. Unplanned dissolution can mean that valuable assets are lost this way.A company’s assets can be tangible and intangible, for example:

Ø  Tax losses that have not been utilised;

Ø  Domain names;

Ø  Trading names and Trademarks;

Ø  Copyright material;

Ø  Bank accounts;

Ø  Leases and property;

Ø  Insurance claims;

Ø  Debtors.

Limited Companies and Partnerships (LLPs) that have been dissolved or struck off the Register at Companies House can be restored. A company that is restored is deemed to have continued in existence as if it had never been dissolved.

Administrative restorations are only applicable to Companies that have been struck off or dissolved by the Registrar of Companies. If a company has been liquidated or struck off at the application of the directors or a liquidator, the appropriate procedure for restoring the company is a Court Order restoration. Companies House will strike off a company if it fails to submit its accounts or Annual Confirmation Statement on time, or if it has failed to pay a fine for submitting accounts late. A Company that fails to notify Companies House of a change of Registered Office will not receive reminders and other notifications from Companies House which quite often leads to statutory information being submitted late or not at all and consequently being struck off.

This process is relatively quick because there is no need to obtain a court order.

However, before the company or LLP can be restored all outstanding Annual Returns and Accounts will have to be filed and any fines or penalties paid.

It is possible that the original company name may not be available if another company or LLP has registered a similar name. A dissolved company does not have priority and will need to change its name.

The following conditions apply for an administrative restoration:

1.      The Company or LLP must have been in business at the time it was struck off.

2.   An application for an administrative restoration must be made within 6 years of the date the company or LLP was struck off.

3.   The application must be made by a director, shareholder, guarantor or partner at the time the company was dissolved.

Charges and disbursements directly related to the restoration process are:

Compared to a court order restoration this is not an expensive process. However, all outstanding Annual Returns and Accounts will have to be filed and any associated fines and penalties issued by Companies House will also have to be paid.

Ø  Treasury Solicitors Fee of £64 (£180 if the registered office of the company is in one of the Duchy estates)

Ø  Companies House fee of £100

Ø  Our Fee of £159

.

You may also incur other costs and penalties, such as:

1.      Companies House Confirmation Statement fees- (cheque or postal order only) £40 each

2.   Fines charged by Companies House for late accounts, as follows:

·      Accounts filed up to 1 month late £150

·      Accounts filed between 1 to 3 months late £375

·      Accounts filed between 3 to 6 months late £750

·      Accounts filed more than 6 months late £1500

These fines are doubled automatically if your accounts were filed late in previous years. When a company is struck off, the date on which it ceases to exist is the date that counts for the submission of missing accounts. So if, for example, a company is struck off one month after the last date on which accounts are due, the penalty for missing accounts can only be for one month. Even if you file them 3 years later when you apply to restore the company.

In addition to the costs and penalties charged by Companies House,you may also ask us to complete outstanding returns and non trading accounts (If trading account are required, you will need an accountant), our charges for doing so are as follows:

·      Preparation of any Confirmation Statements £60 each

·      Preparation of non trading accounts- £200 each

·      Our charge for issuing cheques - £60 each.