Please note this does not apply to Scotland
We have conducted a review of our policy when a company converts from administration to CVL on Form 2.34B under Paragraph 83(4) of Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act 1986 or Paragraph 84(4) of Schedule B1 of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.
What has changed?
We have realised that whilst a company moves to CVL on the date of registration of Form 2.34B by the registrar of companies, Form 2.34B is not a notice of appointment of a liquidator. Form 2.34B is a conversion notice which contains the proposed liquidator’s details.
Therefore a notice of appointment of a liquidator (Form 600 in England and Wales or Form VL1 in Northern Ireland) must also be filed in these cases, under section 109 of the Insolvency Act 1986 or Article 95 of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.
This advice replaces previous advice on the notice of appointment in this situation.
What action do you need to take?
From today you should deliver notice of your appointment as liquidator to the registrar in each case where a company moves from administration to CVL. It would help if the covering letter indicates that the Form 600 or Form VL1 is being filed for a case where the company has moved from administration to CVL.
Please submit the notice after the Form 2.34B has been registered because a liquidator cannot be appointed before this date. You can find the date the company converted to CVL via Companies House search products (i.e. CHD/WebCHeck).
We cannot register notice of your appointment for any company that has been dissolved. However if you wish to deliver notice of your appointment as liquidator for live cases, then we will accept these and place them on the company’s record.
What does this mean for searchers?
We would like to clarify what search information we publish and where this is taken from. Our search products reflect the following information:
- The administration end dates, administrator cessation dates and the liquidation commencement dates are taken from the date the Form 2.34B is registered.
- The date of appointment of the liquidator is also taken from the date the Form 2.34B is registered, as in most cases the liquidator takes office from the date the company converts to CVL. This is the date that would generally be entered onto Form 600/VL1 as the date of appointment of liquidator. A copy of the Form 600/VL1 is available for £1 from our search products should you wish to see the actual date of appointment on that form.
- Currently the liquidator’s name and address is taken from the proposed liquidator’s details on Form 2.34B and shown on our search services as ‘practitioner’s name and address’.
- We will also update the name and address of the liquidator from Form 600/VL1 as ‘practitioner’s name and address’ even if the proposed liquidator on Form 2.34B and the liquidator on Form 600/VL1 are identical. However we are looking to amend this in the near future so that the search products reflect ‘proposed practitioner’s name and address’ taken from Form 2.34B and ‘appointed practitioner’s name and address’ taken from Form 600/VL1. We will communicate with you when these changes will be made.
What will be published in the Gazette?
We will no longer place a notice in the London or Belfast Gazette when a Form 2.34B has been registered because there is no requirement under section 1078 of the Companies Act 2006 to do so. We will communicate with you when this change will be made.
We will continue to place a notice in the Gazette when we receive notice of appointment of a liquidator, as required by section 1078.
Liquidators are still required to publish notice of their appointment in the Gazette on Form 600a for England and Wales companies or Form VL2 for Northern Ireland companies.
Where can I get further information?
If you have any enquiries relating to this change of policy, please direct them to:
Companies House
Insolvency Policy Team
Crown Way
Cardiff
CF14 3UZ
