Closing a UK limited company is more than submitting a form to Companies House and walking away. For a solvent company that has genuinely stopped trading, voluntary strike off is usually the simplest and cheapest way to dissolve the business. But the process only works properly if the company’s

Restoring a dissolved UK company is rarely as simple as completing one form and sending it to Companies House. Before you start, you need to establish why the company was dissolved, whether you are eligible to restore it, which restoration route applies, what filings are outstanding, whether company assets became

When a UK company has been dissolved, a former director or founder may face a deceptively simple choice: restore the old company or start again with a new one? The right answer depends on what remains attached to the original company. If the dissolved company has valuable assets, outstanding contracts,

In most cases, a dissolved UK company can be restored within six years of the date of dissolution. The six-year period applies to both administrative restoration and, generally, restoration by court order under the Companies Act 2006. However, the six-year rule is not quite as simple as it sounds. The

Yes. A former director can restore a dissolved UK company, and in many cases they can use the administrative restoration process rather than going to court. However, the route available depends on why the company was struck off, whether it was trading when it was dissolved, how long ago the

Yes. A creditor can apply to restore a dissolved UK company, but the creditor normally has to use the court restoration route rather than the administrative RT01 process. This is an important distinction. Administrative restoration is designed primarily for eligible former directors or members/shareholders who meet specific statutory conditions.

Yes, some Companies House late filing penalties can still apply when a dissolved company is restored. But you do not automatically pay penalties for the entire period the company was dissolved. The key distinction is when the accounts became due. If accounts were already overdue before the company was dissolved,

Yes, if a company has overdue confirmation statements, those filings generally need to be dealt with as part of the restoration process. But there is an important distinction: for an administrative restoration, you should not normally wait until the company has been restored and then start working through its old

Yes. In most cases, if you are applying for administrative restoration of a dissolved UK company, you need to bring its Companies House filing record up to date before the application can be accepted. That normally includes filing outstanding accounts and confirmation statements, paying the relevant filing fees and outstanding

Form RT01 is the Companies House form used to apply for the administrative restoration of a dissolved UK company to the register. It is not a general “bring my company back” form: it is specifically for companies that meet the legal conditions for administrative restoration under the Companies Act 2006.

Restoring a dissolved UK company is not simply a matter of putting its name back on the Companies House register. The documents you need depend on how the company was dissolved, when it was dissolved, whether it had assets, and whether you qualify for administrative or court restoration. For companies

If a dissolved UK company still owned property or other assets when it was struck off, restoring the company can involve an extra step that is easy to overlook: obtaining a bona vacantia waiver letter. For companies eligible for administrative restoration, the waiver letter is the written consent of the

When a UK company is dissolved, its legal existence ends but that does not mean its remaining assets simply disappear or automatically become the property of its shareholders. Instead, company property and rights that remain at the point of dissolution can become bona vacantia, a legal term meaning property without

When a UK limited company is dissolved, it does not simply leave its assets behind for the former directors or shareholders to collect. Under section 1012 of the Companies Act 2006, property and rights belonging to a company immediately before dissolution generally become bona vacantia, meaning ownerless property, and pass

If a UK limited company is dissolved while it still has money sitting in Stripe, PayPal, Wise or another payment or financial platform, the money does not automatically become the personal property of the company’s director or shareholders. The critical issue is who legally owns the funds at the

Yes, it may be possible to recover money from a dissolved UK company’s bank account, but you cannot normally access the account simply because you were the company’s director or shareholder. When a UK company is dissolved, its assets generally pass to the Crown as bona vacantia, meaning

If a UK limited company is dissolved while there is still money in its business bank account, that money does not simply become the property of the company’s directors or shareholders. Once the company is formally dissolved, its bank account is frozen and any money remaining in the account

When a UK limited company is dissolved, its bank account does not simply remain available to the former directors or shareholders. The company loses access to its bank account, the account is frozen, and money belonging to the dissolved company becomes subject to the rules of bona vacantia. For companies

Yes. A UK company that has been dissolved because it failed to file an overdue confirmation statement can often be restored to the Companies House register. The important point is that restoration is not simply a matter of submitting the missing confirmation statement. Once a company has been struck off

Yes. A UK company that was struck off because it failed to file its accounts, confirmation statements or other required information can often be restored to the Companies House register. The route depends on how the company was struck off. If Companies House removed the company from the register because

Yes. A non-UK resident can restore a dissolved UK company, provided they meet the legal requirements for the relevant restoration route. UK residency is not, by itself, a requirement for restoring a company to the Companies House register. For an eligible former director or shareholder, administrative restoration can be available

Restoring a dissolved UK company can cost as little as £341 in Companies House fees for an eligible administrative restoration, but the total cost can be higher once outstanding filing fees, late filing penalties, Bona Vacantia costs, court fees, professional advice and other expenses are taken into account. The route

Restoring a dissolved UK company can take anywhere from several weeks to several months, depending on why the company was dissolved, which restoration route is available, whether the company has outstanding filings or assets, and whether a court application is required. There is no single statutory processing time that applies

If a UK company has been dissolved and you later discover that it still has assets, outstanding business affairs, legal claims or other matters that need to be dealt with, restoring the company to the Companies House register may be possible. But there are two different restoration routes under the

Yes. A dissolved UK company can often be restored to the Companies House register, but the route depends on how the company was dissolved and who is applying for restoration. For eligible companies, a former director or shareholder may be able to use administrative restoration, which does not require a