A Guide on How to Wind-Up a Company
How to Wind-Up a Company
You can apply to the court to wind-up a company if you can prove that the company owes you at least £750 and that it cannot pay you back.
Statutory Demand
There are multiple ways to prove that a company owes you a debt. However, the most common way is to complete and send a Statutory Demand to the company which sets out the details of a debt. The Statutory Demand is not a court document but it puts you in a strong position to apply to wind-up the company if the company fails to respond to the Statutory Demand within 21 days.
Winding-Up Petition
The Winding-Up Petition application involves completing 2 court forms summarising your details, the company’s details, the amount of debt owed, the grounds to apply for a Winding-Up Petition and other relevant information.
The Winding-Up Petition application will then need to be sent to the court. The appropriate court to send this to will be determined by the value of the paid-up share capital and the location of the company. The application is then considered by the court and listed for a court hearing.
You can also find out more about Winding-Up petitions via our website winding-up petitions and bankruptcy petitions
Court Hearing
A notice of the Winding-Up Petition must be places in the Gazette before the hearing. This notice shows details of the company and information relation to the Winding-Up Petition and the hearing.
The hearing may take place virtually or in-person and usually requires the attendance of an advocate. If you are successful at the hearing, the court will issue a Winding-Up Order which will start the process of selling the company’s assets so that the money can be used for debt recovery.
Contact our insolvency lawyers in Sevenoaks, Ashford, Brighton & Hove, and Uckfield
If you are a director of a company that you would like to wind-up, if you are facing issues with debts, or if you have questions regarding dissolving a company, then please get in touch and we can discuss the various options you have available. Our Dispute Resolution team is experienced in drafting, submitting and managing the entire winding-up process. Please contact Richard Ludlow, partner in our Restructuring & Insolvency team in the first instance so that we are able to appropriately guide you through this process, or call 01732 441695 for an initial conversation on your individual options.