Company restoration services

The safe, expert way to restore your dissolved company

Do you need to restore a company? At Fortune Law, we have an expert company restoration team which has helped countless clients restore dissolved companies. We understand that if the dissolution of a company was not planned or if the consequences of the dissolution are unexpected, this can cause major problems for shareholders, directors, employees, and suppliers, especially if there are valuable assets involved. This also applies to claimants who need to issue a claim against a company but find it no longer exists.

Why Fortune Law?

We are a regulated and specialist law. We are based just around the corner from the Royal Courts of Justice and can hand deliver all court documents saving time and money for our clients. We are specialists in company restorations. We are specialists in company restorations and are service providers of choice for many other professionals such as law firms and accountants who regularly instruct us on behalf of their clients.

 

We can help. Get started.

The quickest and easiest way to get started is to complete our online company restoration enquiry information form. This will provide us with all the information we need to progress your enquiry without delay.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a company get dissolved?

A company can be struck off the Companies Register for a number of reasons, including:

  • On a voluntary basis (when the company is no longer needed) by the company directors by filing a DS01;
  • By Companies House when certain statutory documents such as annual accounts are not filed correctly and on time;
  • As a result of the company going into liquidation or administration.

 

What happens to a company once it has been struck off?

Once a company is struck off, any assets it owns pass to the Crown in a process known as “Bona Vacantia” (meaning vacant goods). Usually, the only way to retrieve these assets is to make an application to the court to restore the company.

The company also ceases to exist as a legal entity, which essentially means that it cannot, for example,  trade, own assets or goods, sue or be sued, hire employees or enter into contracts.

 

What are the typical reasons a company is restored to the Companies Register for?

Our clients come to us to assist them in restoring a company for a wide variety of reasons such as:

  • Their company had title to an asset, e.g. money in a bank account or physical property, that is of value or importance and needs to be recovered, often swiftly;
  • Their company has been struck off for failing to file annual returns/confirmation statements and accounts, but the business continues to trade;
  • They are a third party that has an unresolved claim against the dissolved company and must take some action against the company to obtain compensation or redress.

 

What is involved in restoring a company?

Depending on how the company was struck off and the reason for restoring it, there are two ways to restore a limited company to the register at Companies House; Court Order Restoration and Administrative Restoration.

Both processes vary in terms of time, cost and complexity and certain processes can only be used in certain circumstances, for example if a company has been struck off voluntarily, it can only be restored via a Court Order Restoration.

 

Why do I need a lawyer?

Court Order Restorations in particular can be complex and time sensitive. They involve liaising with the Government Legal Department, the Registrar of Companies, the courts and in some cases liquidators, creditors, tax advisers, accountants and other third parties.

This process also involves the drafting of legal documents such as witness statements and claim forms and in some cases advocacy in the County Court. Due to the strict procedural nature of company restorations, and indeed litigation in general, we can complete all of these documents and issue to them to the correct parties at the correct time, giving you peace of mind and reassurance that the matter is in safe hands.

In our experience, our clients instruct us because we are experts in this area. They choose us because we go above and beyond what is expected; we hand deliver documents to speed up the process, we have good working relationships with the relevant third parties involved in the restoring companies and we are qualified and experienced in what we do.

 

 

Once you share all your information on the form above, you will receive immediate assistance as we aim to contact you on the same day to progress your enquiry.

Company Restoration Fees

Our fees depend on the route to company restoration. There are two ways to restore a limited company to the Company Register; Court Order Restoration and Administrative Restoration. We understand that costs may be an issue and we always aim to charge a fixed fee for our service.

Our fees include the hand-delivery of all documents to the Government Legal Department and County Court at Central London where required as part of the restoration, and where possible.

If the registered office of the dissolved company was in Lancashire or Cornwall at the date of the strike off then there will be an extra charge of £150 + VAT to cover the legal costs of the Duchy of Lancaster or Duchy of Cornwall.

Our Services

Administrative Restoration service:

If the company was not voluntarily struck off and was trading at the time it was dissolved, the easiest and quickest way is to apply for an administrative restoration by rectifying the filings that were not submitted which led to the strike off. We liaise with your accountants and Companies House to establish the filings to be submitted and the penalties to be paid to bring the company up to date. We deal with any forms that need to be filed with Companies House. If assets of the company have been transferred to the Crown we will liaise with the Government Legal Department to secure a waiver and recover the assets whether they be real property or funds.

Our fees to restore a company are fixed at £1500 plus VAT and disbursements.

Recovery of assets from the GLD are fixed at £600 plus VAT and disbursements.

Costs of the GLD in dealing with assets to be provided by the GLD at the time and filing penalties with Companies House to be confirmed as well.

 

 

 

 

Court Order Restoration service:

Court order restorations are more complex than administrative restorations. Our fees cover liaison with the Government Legal Department (GLD) and Companies House. We also undertake preparation of a claim form and supporting witness statement and exhibits and the filing these with the Court. We liaise not only with the Court on your behalf but with the GLD to comply with Companies House requirements. We compile and submit evidence to the Court together with the final signed consent order. We advise on the required undertakings to be given to the Court and provide these to the Court on your behalf. Finally we serve the court order on the GLD and Companies House.  Post restoration we liaise with the GLD to retrieve assets which have passed to the Crown. We will provide you with the appropriate fixed fee before you instruct us.

Any fixed fee or fee estimate includes a fixed scope of work. If we need to carry out any additional word outside this scope, this however will fall outside the fee estimate.

There are also several disbursements with a court order restoration, which are costs that must be paid to the court and other third parties or other administrative charges.