Yes — a dissolved UK company can usually be brought back, and there are two routes. Administrative restoration goes straight to Companies House, but only if you were a director or shareholder, the Registrar struck the company off and dissolved it within the last 6 years, and it was trading when that happened (gov.uk, verified 14 September 2026). Miss any one of those and you need a court order instead.
The administrative route has a fixed shopping list: form RT01, a cheque for £341 payable to "Companies House", any outstanding accounts or confirmation statements, any filing fees or penalties owed, and — if the company held assets — a waiver letter from Bona Vacantia. The court route runs through a solicitor, so the cost varies with the case.
Neither route is guaranteed. Applications do get refused, and then your options narrow to a court order or, for shareholders chasing money, a discretionary grant.
Can a dissolved company be brought back?
Restoration exists because strike-off is not always the end of the story. A company gets dissolved for all sorts of reasons — the directors asked for it, or the Registrar of Companies acted after filings went quiet — and then something surfaces. A client pays an old invoice into a closed bank account. A contract turns out to have been signed in the company's name. A piece of equipment or a property is still on the books.
Once the company is dissolved it no longer legally exists, which is why you cannot simply reopen the bank account or start invoicing again. The register has to be corrected first, and only Companies House or a court can do that. If you are not sure why the company came off the register in the first place, it is worth reading how strike-off works in the first place before you choose a route — the reason for the dissolution decides which of the two applies to you.
If you are weighing restoration against starting again, it helps to talk it through with someone who has seen both ends.
What is administrative restoration and who can apply?
Administrative restoration is the direct route: an application to Companies House, no judge involved. It is also the narrow one. Gov.uk is blunt about the gate — you can only apply "if: you were a director or shareholder; it was struck off the register and dissolved by the Registrar of Companies within the last 6 years; it was trading at the time it was dissolved" (gov.uk, verified 14 September 2026).
Read those three conditions as a set, because all of them have to hold. A creditor who was never a director or shareholder is out. A company dissolved seven years ago is out. A dormant shell that had stopped trading before it was dissolved is out. And crucially, the strike-off must have been the Registrar's doing — a voluntary strike-off that the directors themselves applied for does not qualify.
If you clear all three, you send Companies House a completed form RT01 together with:
A cheque for £341, payable to "Companies House".
Any outstanding documents — company accounts, confirmation statements (previously annual returns).
Any filing fees or penalty payments still owed.
If the company had assets, a waiver letter from Bona Vacantia.
That last item is the one that catches people out, and it is why the money question below matters so much.
When do you need a court order instead?
Whenever the administrative gate closes. Fail any one of the three conditions and, in gov.uk's words, "you'll have to get a court order to get the company restored". That covers creditors and other third parties with an interest, companies dissolved more than 6 years ago, companies that had already stopped trading, and companies that were struck off on the directors' own application.
The court route also becomes the fallback after a refusal. If your administrative application is turned down, gov.uk says you might be able to apply for a court order, or — if you were a shareholder and need to claim some money back — get a discretionary grant. The second option restores money rather than the company itself, which is sometimes all a shareholder actually needs.
A court application runs through a solicitor, so the cost depends on the case rather than a published fee, and the process is set out in gov.uk's guidance on restoring a company by court order. Be honest with yourself about the arithmetic here: if the only asset is a modest balance in a closed account, a contested court application can cost more than the money you are chasing.
What does restoration cost and how long does it take?
The administrative route has one published figure and one shopping list; the court route has neither. Here is how the two compare on the points that decide your choice.
Administrative restoration
Court order
Who can apply
Former director or shareholder
Wider group, including creditors
Time limit
Dissolved by the Registrar within the last 6 years
Set by the court process
Was it trading?
Must have been trading at dissolution
Not required
Fee
£341 cheque to "Companies House", plus outstanding fees and penalties
Via solicitor, cost varies by case
On timing, be careful with the promises you read elsewhere. Gov.uk publishes the eligibility window and the application package, not a turnaround in days or weeks, so treat any specific processing estimate as someone's guess rather than a rule. What you can control is the completeness of the package — a missing set of accounts or an unpaid penalty means the file sits until you fix it.
One more thing worth saying plainly: restoration is not automatic. An application can be refused, and the cheapest version of this problem is the one you never have — our free guide walks through the filing deadlines that trigger strike-off in the first place.
What happens to the company's money and assets (bona vacantia)?
When a company is dissolved, whatever it still owns does not simply wait for you. Assets left behind become bona vacantia — ownerless goods that pass to the Crown, handled by the Government Legal Department (verified 14 September 2026). The bank balance, the van, the intellectual property: once the company stops existing, they are no longer the company's.
That is why the RT01 package includes a waiver letter from Bona Vacantia where the company had assets. Restoring the company puts it back on the register, and the waiver is the mechanism that releases what was passed to the Crown so the restored company can hold it again. Skip that step on a company that held assets and the application is incomplete.
If the company is beyond restoring but there is money you are entitled to as a shareholder, the discretionary grant route exists for exactly that. It is a claim on the money, not a resurrection of the business — a distinction worth making before you instruct anyone.
Sometimes the honest answer is that a fresh company is the better commercial decision, and our off-the-shelf companies are built for that.
How do you avoid being struck off again?
Registrar-led strike-off usually starts the same way: the filings go quiet. A confirmation statement slips, then a set of accounts, then the post from Companies House stops being opened because the registered office address is out of date. Restoration puts the company back, but it does not reset the habits that lost it.
Two filings carry most of the risk. Read what happens if you miss your confirmation statement and get familiar with Companies House late filing penalties before your next deadline, because those penalties are also part of what a restoration application has to clear. Keep the registered office address current, keep a director on the record who actually reads the letters, and remember that the Companies House clock and the HMRC clock run separately — meeting one does not cover the other.
Can I restore a company I voluntarily closed myself?
Not through administrative restoration. That route requires the company to have been struck off and dissolved by the Registrar of Companies. A voluntary closure means a court order instead.
How long after dissolution can I apply?
Administrative restoration is limited to companies struck off and dissolved by the Registrar within the last 6 years. Outside that window, the court route is the only option.
What if the company had stopped trading before it was dissolved?
Then it fails the third condition and you cannot use the administrative route, even if you were a director or shareholder.
How much is the Companies House fee?
£341, paid by cheque made payable to "Companies House", alongside form RT01 and any outstanding filing fees or penalties.
What happens if my application is refused?
You may be able to apply for a court order to restore the company, or — if you were a shareholder trying to recover money — apply for a discretionary grant.
Does restoration bring back the bank account?
Restoration puts the company back on the register. Money and assets that passed to the Crown as bona vacantia are dealt with through the waiver letter, and the bank will have its own process before anything reopens.
Yes — a dissolved UK company can usually be brought back, and there are two routes. Administrative restoration goes straight to Companies House, but only if you were a director or shareholder, the Registrar struck the company off and dissolved it within the last 6 years, and it was trading when that happened (gov.uk, verified 14 September 2026). Miss any one of those and you need a court order instead.
The administrative route has a fixed shopping list: form RT01, a cheque for £341 payable to "Companies House", any outstanding accounts or confirmation statements, any filing fees or penalties owed, and — if the company held assets — a waiver letter from Bona Vacantia. The court route runs through a solicitor, so the cost varies with the case.
Neither route is guaranteed. Applications do get refused, and then your options narrow to a court order or, for shareholders chasing money, a discretionary grant.
Can a dissolved company be brought back?
Restoration exists because strike-off is not always the end of the story. A company gets dissolved for all sorts of reasons — the directors asked for it, or the Registrar of Companies acted after filings went quiet — and then something surfaces. A client pays an old invoice into a closed bank account. A contract turns out to have been signed in the company's name. A piece of equipment or a property is still on the books.
Once the company is dissolved it no longer legally exists, which is why you cannot simply reopen the bank account or start invoicing again. The register has to be corrected first, and only Companies House or a court can do that. If you are not sure why the company came off the register in the first place, it is worth reading how strike-off works in the first place before you choose a route — the reason for the dissolution decides which of the two applies to you.
If you are weighing restoration against starting again, it helps to talk it through with someone who has seen both ends.
What is administrative restoration and who can apply?
Administrative restoration is the direct route: an application to Companies House, no judge involved. It is also the narrow one. Gov.uk is blunt about the gate — you can only apply "if: you were a director or shareholder; it was struck off the register and dissolved by the Registrar of Companies within the last 6 years; it was trading at the time it was dissolved" (gov.uk, verified 14 September 2026).
Read those three conditions as a set, because all of them have to hold. A creditor who was never a director or shareholder is out. A company dissolved seven years ago is out. A dormant shell that had stopped trading before it was dissolved is out. And crucially, the strike-off must have been the Registrar's doing — a voluntary strike-off that the directors themselves applied for does not qualify.
If you clear all three, you send Companies House a completed form RT01 together with:
A cheque for £341, payable to "Companies House".
Any outstanding documents — company accounts, confirmation statements (previously annual returns).
Any filing fees or penalty payments still owed.
If the company had assets, a waiver letter from Bona Vacantia.
That last item is the one that catches people out, and it is why the money question below matters so much.
When do you need a court order instead?
Whenever the administrative gate closes. Fail any one of the three conditions and, in gov.uk's words, "you'll have to get a court order to get the company restored". That covers creditors and other third parties with an interest, companies dissolved more than 6 years ago, companies that had already stopped trading, and companies that were struck off on the directors' own application.
The court route also becomes the fallback after a refusal. If your administrative application is turned down, gov.uk says you might be able to apply for a court order, or — if you were a shareholder and need to claim some money back — get a discretionary grant. The second option restores money rather than the company itself, which is sometimes all a shareholder actually needs.
A court application runs through a solicitor, so the cost depends on the case rather than a published fee, and the process is set out in gov.uk's guidance on restoring a company by court order. Be honest with yourself about the arithmetic here: if the only asset is a modest balance in a closed account, a contested court application can cost more than the money you are chasing.
What does restoration cost and how long does it take?
The administrative route has one published figure and one shopping list; the court route has neither. Here is how the two compare on the points that decide your choice.
Administrative restoration
Court order
Who can apply
Former director or shareholder
Wider group, including creditors
Time limit
Dissolved by the Registrar within the last 6 years
Set by the court process
Was it trading?
Must have been trading at dissolution
Not required
Fee
£341 cheque to "Companies House", plus outstanding fees and penalties
Via solicitor, cost varies by case
On timing, be careful with the promises you read elsewhere. Gov.uk publishes the eligibility window and the application package, not a turnaround in days or weeks, so treat any specific processing estimate as someone's guess rather than a rule. What you can control is the completeness of the package — a missing set of accounts or an unpaid penalty means the file sits until you fix it.
One more thing worth saying plainly: restoration is not automatic. An application can be refused, and the cheapest version of this problem is the one you never have — our free guide walks through the filing deadlines that trigger strike-off in the first place.
What happens to the company's money and assets (bona vacantia)?
When a company is dissolved, whatever it still owns does not simply wait for you. Assets left behind become bona vacantia — ownerless goods that pass to the Crown, handled by the Government Legal Department (verified 14 September 2026). The bank balance, the van, the intellectual property: once the company stops existing, they are no longer the company's.
That is why the RT01 package includes a waiver letter from Bona Vacantia where the company had assets. Restoring the company puts it back on the register, and the waiver is the mechanism that releases what was passed to the Crown so the restored company can hold it again. Skip that step on a company that held assets and the application is incomplete.
If the company is beyond restoring but there is money you are entitled to as a shareholder, the discretionary grant route exists for exactly that. It is a claim on the money, not a resurrection of the business — a distinction worth making before you instruct anyone.
Sometimes the honest answer is that a fresh company is the better commercial decision, and our off-the-shelf companies are built for that.
How do you avoid being struck off again?
Registrar-led strike-off usually starts the same way: the filings go quiet. A confirmation statement slips, then a set of accounts, then the post from Companies House stops being opened because the registered office address is out of date. Restoration puts the company back, but it does not reset the habits that lost it.
Two filings carry most of the risk. Read what happens if you miss your confirmation statement and get familiar with Companies House late filing penalties before your next deadline, because those penalties are also part of what a restoration application has to clear. Keep the registered office address current, keep a director on the record who actually reads the letters, and remember that the Companies House clock and the HMRC clock run separately — meeting one does not cover the other.
Can I restore a company I voluntarily closed myself?
Not through administrative restoration. That route requires the company to have been struck off and dissolved by the Registrar of Companies. A voluntary closure means a court order instead.
How long after dissolution can I apply?
Administrative restoration is limited to companies struck off and dissolved by the Registrar within the last 6 years. Outside that window, the court route is the only option.
What if the company had stopped trading before it was dissolved?
Then it fails the third condition and you cannot use the administrative route, even if you were a director or shareholder.
How much is the Companies House fee?
£341, paid by cheque made payable to "Companies House", alongside form RT01 and any outstanding filing fees or penalties.
What happens if my application is refused?
You may be able to apply for a court order to restore the company, or — if you were a shareholder trying to recover money — apply for a discretionary grant.
Does restoration bring back the bank account?
Restoration puts the company back on the register. Money and assets that passed to the Crown as bona vacantia are dealt with through the waiver letter, and the bank will have its own process before anything reopens.
