An administration ceases upon registration of a paragraph 84 notice (no property to distribute), regardless of any court-ordered extension or change of administrators between filing and registration.
There are a number of ways in which an administration can come to an end: automatically upon expiry of its fixed duration; by court order on a number of grounds; by transition to an insolvent liquidation; or so that the company can move to being dissolved.
Some of these routes require a notice to be filed with Companies House – ie, with no court involvement. For example, administrators must file the relevant notice if they think that the company has no property which might permit a distribution to its creditors. The administration terminates when the notice is registered, and the company is dissolved three months later. (Paragraph 84, Schedule B1 Insolvency Act 1986.)
It has been held that termination occurs even where, between filing and registration, the court has replaced the administrators who made the filing and has extended the duration of the administration upon the application of a creditor seeking to challenge the original administrators’ dealings. This is so even though the extension/replacement application had been issued (with the knowledge of the original administrators) before the para.84 notice was filed.
The court found that the wording of the provision was clear; as was the statutory purpose of the legislation, namely to provide a swift, inexpensive and final exit where no distribution was possible, and this was not to be undermined.
Doubt remains whether a judge could override a para.84 notice between filing and registration (whereas an administrator can ask the court to disapply the requirement to file one in the first place).
However, the end of administration does not automatically give the (former) administrators a discharge of their liabilities in relation to it. And even then, a court can entertain a misfeasance challenge after discharge.
Wonop ApS v Simon Jagger and Ben Woodthorpe (as joint administrators) and FAI Realisations 2024 Limited (in administration) [2026] EWHC 362 (Ch)
Our content explained
Every piece of content we create is correct on the date it’s published but please don’t rely on it as legal advice. If you’d like to speak to us about your own legal requirements, please contact one of our expert lawyers.