Another "Illegal" Company

[DontAsk]

A company (not named) came close to strike off a few times and was truck off last year. There's no record on Companies House that the directors had the company restored yet they were somehow able to continue trading from the same address, presumably one of them as a sole trader. AI tells me restoration can be quite quick in the case of compulsory strike off and that Companies House would show the company as restored.

Now a new company has been formed at the same address but lacks all of the legally required information that must be displayed. No contact address, no registration number, no registered office address, no "trading as" statement as they are not using the name of the Ltd on the website, etc.

I don't think an embedded google map showing the address counts as a "full geographic contact address", nor does AI search, do you?

I will not be doing business with them.

 

[Gecko001]

A sole trader business can use the name of the limited company as long as they do not put Ltd in the name and do not break any passing off rules, as far as I know. However, I think they need to give the name of the sole trader in all business correspondence, including invoices and receipt etc.

 

[Ozzy]

However, I think they need to give the name of the sole trader in all business correspondence

Yes, this is accurate. If a sole trader then the 'trading as' statement as @DontAsk mention is required.

For example, if you scroll to the footer of this website (my daughter's business as a sole trader) to see the disclosure is correct with all the contact details. https://maequestrian.co.uk/

 

[TaxBix]

You're right about the map, that isn't an address in any usable form. Though the sole trader disclosure rules only cover letters, orders, invoices and receipts, not websites. The geographic address on a website comes from the e-commerce rules instead.

 

[DontAsk]

In this case they are now operating a new Ltd. Ltd (dissolved) -> sole trader? -> New Ltd a year later.

I don't know how they presented themselves during the sole trader period. My point was they are not trading under the new Ltd name and should have a "xxx trading as yyy" statement.