Change in description where a receiver is appointed to the property of a company

March 2017

With effect from 22 March 2017, the Companies Registration Office (“CRO”) will no longer use the status description “Receivership”.  Going forward, where a receiver is appointed over the property of a company, its status description will read “Normal” rather than “Receivership”. Where a receiver is appointed and the company is in liquidation, the status description will read “Liquidation” rather than its previous status description of “Receiver/Liquidator”.

The changes have been brought about due to a recent decision by the Court of Appeal in Independent Trustee Company Limited v Registrar of Companies [2016] IECA 274. In that case, Independent Trustees Company Limited appealed a decision of the High Court where it had attempted to prevent the Registrar of Companies from registering the Notice of Appointment of a Receiver and thus changing the status description of the company from “Normal” to “Receivership”. It sought to do this on the grounds that it was a trustee company and was not a beneficial owner of the property over which the receiver was to be appointed.

The Court of Appeal held that the Registrar was entitled to file the Form E8 (the appointment of a receiver form) in order to notify a person of the appointment but that the Registrar could not change the description status of the company from “Normal” to “Receivership” as the appointment of a receiver did not change the corporate status of a company. As a result of this decision the CRO has ceased or retired the “Receivership” description status.

From 22 March 2017, when a receiver is appointed over the property of a company, whether it be some or all of the company’s property, the company’s status will continue to read “Normal” on the CRO register. However, there will still be something to indicate the presence of a receiver’s appointment as, in addition to the company status box, there will be further status box which will appear below the company status to alert users to the fact that a Form E8 has been filed.

In the case of any existing companies which hold the description status of “Receivership”, their status will now read “Normal”.  Companies which previously held the status of “Receiver/Liquidator”, will now read “Liquidation”.