I need to resurrect the firm I struck off
MT writes: Six months ago I decided to close my company and start a new venture. I went through the whole closure process and struck off the firm at Companies House. However, I have now been approached by someone who wants to buy the company’s domain name, whose ownership was not transferred. How do I go about resurrecting the company and how long does it take?
Once a company is struck off, any potential assets remaining no longer have a legal owner and become the possession of the Crown under the Bona Vacantia rules, writes Jon Dawson, partner at Kingston Smith LLP.
You can, though, apply for the company to be put back on the register through an administrative restoration. This can be done by a former director or shareholder within six years of the strike- off.
The first step is to obtain a Bona Vacantia waiver letter from the Crown representative (the Treasury solicitor) confirming there is no objection to the restoration. This will take about five working days from the date of submitting the form and paying the fee.
Once you have the waiver, you can apply to Companies House for the company to be formally restored. You will need to file the restoration form RT01 together with a copy of the waiver letter and any statutory documents that may fall due, such as the company’s annual return.
A restored company will appear as if it has never been struck off, and any accounts or annual returns will need to be filed to bring the records up to date. If any late-filing penalties are due, these must also be paid. Processing the application can take about 10 working days.
The company could be restored under a different name if the original name has been taken since the strike-off. Choosing a different name should not affect legal ownership of the domain name.