Restore a dissolved company

[Wilmslowboy]

Does it really take 4+ months to reinstate a dissolved ltd company.

Just found out my accountant has dissolved my ltd co, it has not traded for a couple of years but stayed on top of the accounts and confirmation statement, all taxes paid, no covid loans etc, It was 'dissolved via voluntary strike-off'.

At best I would describe the accountant as too keen, at worse bloody incompetent - The firm is one of those call centre set ups, I know I should have known better, at no point did I sign anything to ask for it to be dissolved but we did talk about it a year or so ago.

I am not going to haul them over the coals but equally don't plan to use them going forward.



2 issues

1. The bank account with £1,450 is now frozen
2. I would ideally like to start trading it again, ideally Jan 2022.


My options are reinstate, which I would like to do (I like the name plus it has 4 years of sound history), or set up new ltd co and write of the £1,450, although the reinstament will cost as much.

If the reinstatement is going to take 4+ months, then I will have no option but to use another ltd co in Jan 2022.

[Seventy-Eight]

A majority of the directors must sign a 'DS01' form to have a company struck off.

If the accountant filed it without approval from a majority then they're on very dodgy ground...

[Wilmslowboy]

Seventy-Eight said:

A majority of the directors must sign a 'DS01' form to have a company struck off.

If the accountant filed it without approval from a majority then they're on very dodgy ground...

Yep - faked signatures - as I said I'm thinking misplaced best intentions, we did talk about doing it a year earlier and what would have been involved.

I would like to reinstate and then move on, worse case just move on but that involves writing off the best part of £2k (frozen bank money and cost to start over).

[MaxFromage]

If there is no direct request to dissolve then ask for the firm's PI providers details. They'll just cough up the money to save the hassle.

[Eric Mc]

The cost of reinstatement may exceed the money in the company bank account. The accountant was extremely remiss in doing what they did.

[Wilmslowboy]

Eric Mc said:

The cost of reinstatement may exceed the money in the company bank account. The accountant was extremely remiss in doing what they did.

Yep - all said and done will just about break even, although there is then the cost for new ltd co set up.

Will draw a line and move on......

[Eric Mc]

You might be better off just forgetting about it and setting up a replacement company. Setting up a limited company is easy and cheap.

[wattsm666]

I agree with this. Will be expensive to restore

[hidetheelephants]

MaxFromage said:

If there is no direct request to dissolve then ask for the firm's PI providers details. They'll just cough up the money to save the hassle.

This surely? They've cost you a load of money, it's their mistake?

[zedstar]

do you have to reinstate?

isn't there a way of getting the money from the Bona Vacantia department?

[skwdenyer]

Eric Mc said:

The cost of reinstatement may exceed the money in the company bank account. The accountant was extremely remiss in doing what they did.

Remiss? Remiss?! Accountant faked signatures to wind up a company. At the minimum a complaint to the relevant professional body is in order; they may be struck off. They should also be required to admit same to Companies House and do the needful to get the co reinstated.

[Wilmslowboy]

skwdenyer said:

Remiss? Remiss?! Accountant faked signatures to wind up a company. At the minimum a complaint to the relevant professional body is in order; they may be struck off. They should also be required to admit same to Companies House and do the needful to get the co reinstated.

All said and done it’s going to cost me over £1,600, a bit of hassle (new co, insurance, vat and bank account) and around a month delay.

Other than over zealous behaviour (we talked about dissolving a year ago and nothing came of it) I can not think why they pushed ahead with it unilaterally? - perhaps a later panic on their part - who knows.

It’s a contact centre setup, perhaps poor instruction to a junior - who knows ?

Part of me is curious why they (he) did it, I can not see any financial or other benefit on their their part ?

I have already started the process with new accountant, so pretty much drawn a line under the whole thing.

[skwdenyer]

Wilmslowboy said:

skwdenyer said:

Remiss? Remiss?! Accountant faked signatures to wind up a company. At the minimum a complaint to the relevant professional body is in order; they may be struck off. They should also be required to admit same to Companies House and do the needful to get the co reinstated.

All said and done it’s going to cost me over £1,600, a bit of hassle (new co, insurance, vat and bank account) and around a month delay.

Other than over zealous behaviour (we talked about dissolving a year ago and nothing came of it) I can not think why they pushed ahead with it unilaterally? - perhaps a later panic on their part - who knows.

It’s a contact centre setup, perhaps poor instruction to a junior - who knows ?

Part of me is curious why they (he) did it, I can not see any financial or other benefit on their their part ?

I have already started the process with new accountant, so pretty much drawn a line under the whole thing.

You’re pretty relaxed about this, I must say.

[MaxFromage]

skwdenyer said:

You’re pretty relaxed about this, I must say.

I see it quite often to be honest. I've taken on a number of new clients who've had some pretty poor service/advice but they're always very reluctant to take it further.

[skwdenyer]

MaxFromage said:

skwdenyer said:

You’re pretty relaxed about this, I must say.

I see it quite often to be honest. I've taken on a number of new clients who've had some pretty poor service/advice but they're always very reluctant to take it further.

I run businesses. I see some pretty clear blue water between "poor service/advice" and forging the signatures of Directors on official documents in order to dissolve a company.

Accountants are regularly struck off for less.

[mike74]

Perhaps your accountant applied for a covid loan for the company which has gone into and quickly out of the company account without you being aware of it? And he's now dissolving the company to get the loan written off?

I believe it was incredibly easy for fraudsters to apply for covid loans on behalf of companies that they had no connection to whatsoever, all they needed were basic, publicly available details, so it must be incredibly easy for a less than honest accountant to do the same and cover their tracks?

[MaxFromage]

skwdenyer said:

I run businesses. I see some pretty clear blue water between "poor service/advice" and forging the signatures of Directors on official documents in order to dissolve a company.

Accountants are regularly struck off for less.

Be aware that signatures are no longer required to dissolve a company. It can be done online and only requires providing an email address to Companies House to enable the director(s) to be notified that the company is being struck off. Obviously it still requires authority in some form from all directors.

[Wilmslowboy]

mike74 said:

Perhaps your accountant applied for a covid loan for the company which has gone into and quickly out of the company account without you being aware of it? And he's now dissolving the company to get the loan written off?

I believe it was incredibly easy for fraudsters to apply for covid loans on behalf of companies that they had no connection to whatsoever, all they needed were basic, publicly available details, so it must be incredibly easy for a less than honest accountant to do the same and cover their tracks?

You had me worried there for a moment.

Last transaction was end 2019, other than the withdraw of the accountants fee (£1k) at the end of 2020.

[skwdenyer]

MaxFromage said:

skwdenyer said:

I run businesses. I see some pretty clear blue water between "poor service/advice" and forging the signatures of Directors on official documents in order to dissolve a company.

Accountants are regularly struck off for less.

Be aware that signatures are no longer required to dissolve a company. It can be done online and only requires providing an email address to Companies House to enable the director(s) to be notified that the company is being struck off. Obviously it still requires authority in some form from all directors.

Whilst true, the OP said:

Wilmslowboy said:

Yep - faked signatures

Clicking “I have authority” when that is uncertain is, I agree, a different matter. Which is why I took the OP at his word that this was not that

[bigandclever]

Wilmslowboy said:

Last transaction was end 2019, other than the withdraw of the accountants fee (£1k) at the end of 2020.

You've done two £13 confirmation statements since then. Well, someone has, a week apart