Estate Agent dormant company

gozaimasu

Please delete this thread - GDPR we should be allowed to Right To Erasure.

Doozergirl

One's registered company name does not need to be the same as a trading name. Mine are totally different.

One doesn't have to have a trading company. You can be a sole trader or have an Limited Liability Partnership.

Thrugelmir

Does their official letterhead give this Company number?

AdrianC

gozaimasu wrote: »

I don't have their official letterhead.

So you have absolutely no idea whether THAT limited company is the trading entity that you're looking at dealing with.

I don't want to give my details to them if they're dodgy.

Quite some leap.

The address of the company on Companies House is listed at number 12, the address with the property ombudsman is number 20, and their website says number 12. They are registered as a Data Controller with the ICO with property number 20. Interesting discrepancy. One of those addresses must be out of date?

Not necessarily. They do not have to trade from their registered office. Many limited companies use their accountant as their registered office.

steampowered

Is the company actually registered as dormant?

There is also a small companies exemption which exempts smaller companies from having to publish accounts. This exemption does not mean the company is dormant.

It is difficult to comment unless you give us a link to the actual Companies House page.

Is it also possible that there is another company with a similar name? You would need to have the company number to be sure which company we are talking about.

G_M

gozaimasu wrote: »

A local estate agent is registered as a Dormant Company on Companies House as per this https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/section/480

This means that the estate agent has ceased trading, yet.....

Does this mean that any buyer or seller should avoid this estate agent?

Don't see how it could affect a buyer. If the EA finds them a property, the buyer will be buying from, and paying, the seller, not the EA.

The seller will have a contract with them, probably requiring payment either
* if they introduce a buyer or
* if a buyer they introduce Completes

Not sure how it wouldd matter to the seller provided a sale resulted.

theartfullodger

As above, but a fairly good indication that something ain't right about the accounting at the agent:

Linton

It doesnt indicate anything good or bad. Perhaps the dormant company was a previous owner who sold off the estate agency to someone else who continued to use the same name for the business.

Thrugelmir

gozaimasu wrote: »

I don't have their official letterhead. I don't want to give my details to them if they're dodgy.

Then you have no idea who you are dealing with. Trading names are often retained while ownership behind the scenes is with a totally different person or organisation. Brand names have a commercial value when a business is bought and sold.

Owain_Moneysaver

Linton wrote: »

Perhaps the dormant company was a previous owner who sold off the estate agency to someone else who continued to use the same name for the business.

Many formerly independent small chains of estate agents are now owned by Countrywide PLC.

Leaving the original company listed as dormant prevents anyone else registering a new company with the same name, so it's a cheap way of partially protecting the brand name.