Dissolved company funds

When a company is dissolved, its remaining funds become ‘bona vacantia’, a legal term for ownerless property. These funds automatically pass to the Crown by operation of law under the provisions of the Companies Act 2006.

Any cash balance of a dissolved company is the property of the Crown and should be promptly sent to the appropriate Crown representative following the dissolution.

The KLTR is the Crown’s representative in Scotland, dealing with bank and other cash balances previously owned by dissolved companies that now belong to the Crown.

Before contacting this office, please check that the KLTR has jurisdiction over the funds you are holding. If a company’s last registered office and assets are in Scotland, its assets are dealt with by the KLTR. If a company’s last registered office and assets are in different jurisdictions, the location of the last registered office typically determines who deals with the assets.

To verify that the funds you hold are bona vacantia and fall within our jurisdiction, please email the following details to enquiries@kltr.gov.uk:

1. Company name
2. Company number
3. Last registered office address
4. Date of the dissolution
5. Amount of funds held

Once we have confirmed that the funds held are bona vacantia and within our jurisdiction, we will provide you with a unique payment reference number and our bank account details.

Please note that there are different procedures for banks seeking to send funds to the KLTR, which we outline below.

We expect banks to submit funds from dissolved company accounts to KLTR in bulk, rather than individually, to reduce administrative efforts for both parties. To facilitate this process, we will provide an Excel workbook for banks to complete and and return for our review. To request a workbook, please email the KLTR office at enquiries@kltr.gov.uk.

Once we confirm that the funds listed in your Excel workbook are bona vacantia and within our jurisdiction, we will assign unique payment reference numbers to each entry. We will then return the updated workbook to you along with our bank details, enabling you to transfer the funds to KLTR.

Please be aware that any funds sent to KLTR without the corresponding payment reference number will be returned to you.