dissolved company still trading

[concerned44]

Hi all,

Im new here and hoping that someone may be able to point me in the right direction if thats possible please?

I will keep it very short ..

I pay a company for a service monthly, after various issues I had a little dig around (rightly or wrongly!) and found that the company I pay money to monthly dissolved a good few years back.

The ltd company are still trading under that same name. There is nothing to suggest that they are ' blah blah trading as whoever'
There is another company registered to the same address, the company that is currently active at the same address and is owned by the same person. There are 161 other companies that have been dissolved by this same person.. (I don't know if that is relevant)

Is this even legal?
I have checked the companies house a million times and it was definately dissolved.

Any info would be very much appreciated.
Thank you.

[Scruff]

Phoenix, pre-pack, a rose by any other name... Call it what you like? It's fraudulent, but proving it is going to be a problem in getting it investigated by CPS. You can raise the issue in a civil proceeding but you will need deep pockets.

What service are they providing you? As long as you are still receiving the service then you might be better off keeping silent?

They should be providing you with an invoice with their VAT and Company registration numbers on them. Cross check and inform HMRC if you are so inclined and see what they say?

[VectraMan]

They send you invoices with a company number for a company that's dissolved? Or are you just going on the company name and assuming it must be the same? How do you pay them money? What's the name on the bank account?

[concerned44]

Its an estate agent.

At that address there is no company by that name however, there is another company same trade and the director is the same person.

It was 100% dissolved 6 years ago.

Does every company name have to be registered even if it is NOT a LTD company?

On the tenancy it is in the name that is dissolved minus the LTD and I pay into a bank accountwhich has the company name on it.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

A trading name, cf a company name, doesn't have to be registered.

So, "best estate agents limited" must be registered, "John Smith t/a best estate agents" doesn't have to be.

This URL summaries my understanding of provisions: Trading Standards Advice Leaflet

[VectraMan]

Sounds like it isn't a Ltd.