Company names

XYZ1000

Hi I would be very grateful if anyone about having a number of company names .......I am self employed and have been working as sub contract for a few months. The person (company)  has clients then I invoice the person  At first I was asked to send invoice to the person and invoice them as their own name. Then a few months later asked to invoice the surname and limited. Eg Blogg limited.
I Have been asked to sign a contract back dating to when I started so there was three contracts. One with the first name another with the second then another name. I have queried the third saying I have never sent an invoice so not sure why I am being asked to sign a contract. I was told this is a new company name and soon I will have to sign the contract.  Can anyone shed any light on this as I am confused. Thanks in advance 

XYZ1000

*knows anything 

Marcon

Well, at least there is a contract, which is an improvement on many situations where someone is providing services on a self-employed basis! Remember you can't backdate a signature - although you can sign a contract confirming that it took effect from a date earlier than the date on which you sign (sounds like a fuss about nothing, but is quite important).

If there are 3 different contracts in different names, so be it. Just make sure that your invoicing tallies with one of these. The important point for you is to be quite certain about the identity of the party which whom you are contracting, largely because if they don't pay up, you need to know who to pursue. 

robatwork

Just to add - if it's Bloggs Ltd, make sure you go to companies house and check the name of the signatory is a director of Bloggs Ltd

Sandtree

robatwork said:

Just to add - if it's Bloggs Ltd, make sure you go to companies house and check the name of the signatory is a director of Bloggs Ltd

Companies House will only identify statutory directors of a company, plenty of other people are normally given authority to execute contracts etc beyond the statutory directors... it would cause deadlock if the CEO of a multinational bank had to sign off each order for copier paper etc.

robatwork

And equally, I've seen one/two-man bands try to welch on honouring a contract because it wasn't signed by a director and "the person who signed wasn't authorised". Ultimately up to a judge and this case didn't get to court but easier in this particular situation where it's obviously more one-man band than conglomerate to get the director to sign.

CKhalvashi

robatwork said:

Just to add - if it's Bloggs Ltd, make sure you go to companies house and check the name of the signatory is a director of Bloggs Ltd

Many companies, even reasonably small ones, have staff authorised to sign contracts who aren't directors or shareholders of the said company, so I'd hold this one completely incorrectly.

Doing your best to ensure that they are at least on the payroll (such as sending invoices to either the registered office or the address on the website) is a good start though. There is then no doubt after the first one is paid that the contract exists if it ends up in court.