The company that owes you money has been dissolved

First, establish how it ended

Search the company on the Companies House register at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. It is free, and every filing can be downloaded without charge. The filing history tells you which of three things happened.

• Liquidation — creditors’ voluntary liquidation or compulsory winding up. An insolvency practitioner was appointed to realise what assets there were and distribute them.
• Voluntary strike-off — the directors applied to close a company that had stopped trading. There is no liquidator and no distribution.
• Compulsory strike-off — the registrar removed it, usually for failing to file accounts.

Either way, once the company is dissolved it no longer exists in law, and you cannot sue something that does not exist.

If there was a liquidation

Customers owed a refund rank as unsecured creditors, which is near the back of the queue: behind secured lenders, behind the liquidator’s own costs, behind employees’ preferential claims and, in most cases, behind HMRC. Unsecured creditors frequently receive nothing at all.

You can find out exactly what happened without asking anybody. The liquidator’s progress reports and final account are filed at Companies House and are free to download. They show what was realised, what the costs were, and the dividend paid to unsecured creditors, usually expressed in pence in the pound. If you were never told about the liquidation at the time, that is not unusual — liquidators work from the company’s own records, which are often incomplete.

Restoring a company to the register

A dissolved company can sometimes be restored, which revives it as a legal entity so that a claim can be brought. There are two routes: administrative restoration, available in limited circumstances where the company was struck off while still trading, and restoration by court order, which is the route generally open to a creditor.

Court restoration means a formal application, court fees, and in practice a solicitor. Costs commonly run into four figures before anything is recovered, and restoring a company that had no money when it closed simply produces a company that still has no money. For a consumer-sized claim it is very rarely worth it. Where a meaningful sum is at stake, take proper legal advice before spending anything.

Any assets left in a dissolved company pass to the Crown as bona vacantia, dealt with by the Government Legal Department, or by the equivalent office in Scotland and the Duchies.

Other routes worth trying first

1. Your card provider or bank. If you paid by credit card and the amount was over £100, section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 may make the card issuer jointly liable — and that claim survives the trader’s disappearance. For debit cards and smaller amounts, ask your bank about chargeback.
2. A regulator or compensation scheme. If the firm was FCA authorised, check whether the Financial Services Compensation Scheme covers the activity at fscs.org.uk. Cover depends on the type of business, not simply on the firm having been authorised.
3. Report misconduct. Directors who traded on while insolvent, or who took payments knowing services would not be delivered, can be reported to the Insolvency Service at gov.uk/report-company-director-misconduct. It will not get your money back, but it can result in disqualification and it is free.
4. A successor company. Where a business has continued under a new company at the same address with the same people, the new company is usually a separate legal entity and not liable for the old one’s debts — but it is worth establishing the facts before writing the claim off.

If you are being chased rather than owed

The reverse situation catches people out too. If a dissolved company is named on a letter demanding payment from you, something is wrong: a company that has been struck off cannot chase a debt. Either the debt was sold before dissolution, in which case the buyer should be named, or the letter is not what it appears to be. Check it against the guide on whether a debt collection agency is genuine before you pay anything.

More guides on this site

• How to check whether a debt collection agency is genuine
• Making a debt collector prove the debt
• When an old debt becomes statute barred

See all guides