Below is a selection of common question regarding company management. If your question is not answered here, please contact us.

1. Why should I not simply buy a company off the shelf for £90?
2. What are the advantages of a limited liability partnership?
3. What is an annual return?
4. When do my accounts have to be filed?
5. Why do I need a company if I have bought the freehold of my flat?

1. Of course we can supply a company 'off the shelf'. However, you then have all the work (and cost) of re-structuring the company to your own requirements (share capital, appointment of directors and secretary, Memorandum & Articles of Association, accounting date, share transfers).
2. A sole trader or partner has unlimited personal liability if things go wrong. A limited liability partnership (LLP) has most of the protections and also most of the obligations of incorporation. For example, an LLP does not have directors or a company secretary but must file annual accounts and returns in the same way as a limited company, and in most cases its accounts must be audited. It must have a minimum of two members (a private company need only have one) and changes in its membership must be notified to Companies House in the same way as changes in directorships for limited companies. The limited liability partnership gives some peace of mind to partners but at an additional cost.
3. Every company is required to return a statutory return to Companies House showing detail of its capital, directors, secretary and shareholders. It must be lodged by a specific date and is a public document which is accessible on demand from Companies House by anyone seeking the information it contains.
4. For a private company: 10 months after the accounting date.
   For a plc: 7 months after the accounting date.
   
   Special application can be made to Companies House for a short extension where the company is delayed in the production of its accounts by virtue of having overseas interests.
   
5. A flat, by definition, is part of a larger building. Such a building will always have common parts which must be managed for the benefit of all flat owners in the building, and to the cost of whose upkeep all flat owners must contribute. Flat owners will also have an obligation to share in the costs of maintaining and insuring the fabric of the building as a whole. The residential property management company, of which all flat owners are members, provides the ideal vehicle for managing and controlling these costs for the benefit of the individual owners as a whole.