There are a number of ways you can check if a company is in liquidation. This can include searching the Companies House register. Companies House is responsible for maintaining a register of company information such as annual returns and annual accounts. This information also includes insolvency details although this can take some time to be updated and made available to the public.
When a company enters administration, liquidation or receivership, the appointed Insolvency Practitioner is required to post announcements in the London Gazette. The Gazette also has a search facility, but it can be difficult to find the exact information you are looking for, of companies involved in insolvency proceedings.
There are three main types of liquidation:
- Members’ voluntary liquidation (MVL) – which means the directors have made a statutory declaration of solvency.
- Creditors’ voluntary liquidation (CVL) – which means that the directors have not made such a declaration.
- Compulsory liquidation – this happens when a company is ordered by a court to be wound up.
The Companies House register can be used to find if a company is being wound up (liquidated) or if a company is in ‘provisional liquidation’. This means a court has frozen the assets of a company in advance of a hearing to decide if it should be liquidated.