Wind up a company that owes you money

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Apply

You must send the right form to the court before they can deal with your petition. You might want to get legal help to make sure you submit your petition correctly.

Forms

Fill in form Comp 1 and make 3 copies.

You’ll need to:

  • make sure the company’s details are correct
  • state if any European Community regulations apply (this applies if the company is registered in or does business in England and Wales)
  • ask the court to restore the company (if it’s been dissolved) before winding up the company

You need to provide evidence the company owes you money, for example:

  • a statutory demand - include the amount and date the demand was served
  • a court judgment - include the amount awarded (and your costs and interest), the date of the judgment, the court name and case number

You’ll also need to fill in form Comp 2 confirming the details of your petition.

Where to send the petition

Where you send the petition depends on how much ‘paid-up share capital’ the company has - you can find this on the Companies House register.

Submit the petition online. It’ll go to the High Court.

You pay the court fees online, but not the petition deposit. You’ll get an email after you apply, telling you how to pay the deposit.

You’ll need to find the court nearest to the company’s registered office - the court must deal with bankruptcy.

Submit the petition online if it’s one of these courts:

  • Admiralty and Commercial Court
  • Chancery Division
  • Companies Court
  • High Court (including Bankruptcy Court)
  • London Mercantile Court
  • Rolls Building

You pay the court fees online, but not the petition deposit. You’ll get an email after you apply, telling you how to pay the deposit.

If it was another court you’ll need to submit the petition by post. You can pay the fees by cash, postal order or a building society, bank or solicitor’s cheque made payable to ‘HM Courts and Tribunals Service’.

After you apply

You’ll get a copy of your petition from the court after you pay the petition deposit. You must:

  • deliver (‘serve’) it to a company director or employee
  • provide a certificate of service to the court confirming that the petition has been served on the company

You can get a ‘process server’ to help you - your solicitor can arrange this.

You can serve the petition by attaching it to the company’s front door or leaving it at the office if you cannot serve it in person.

The day after you serve the petition, send a copy to the relevant liquidator, administrative receiver, administrator or supervisor if the company is involved in:

  • voluntary liquidation
  • administrative receivership
  • an administration order
  • a voluntary arrangement
View a printable version of the whole guide

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