Be Small Claims Wise guides › Suing a company, sole trader or partnership

Suing a company, sole trader or partnership

Getting the defendant's legal identity right is the first step in suing a business. A limited company, a person trading under a business name and a partnership are named, served and enforced against in different ways.

Checked against official sources on 30 September 2026. Court fees from 13 July 2026; enforcement agent fees from 1 May 2026.

Work out who you actually contracted with

The defendant is whoever agreed to pay you, not the shop sign. Look at the invoice, quotation, order confirmation, website footer, bank payee name or email signature for a registered company name and number, a business name with an individual's name behind it, or several names trading together. A limited company ("Ltd", "Limited", "plc") or an LLP is a separate legal person; the people who run it are not usually liable for its debts. A person trading under a business name, and the partners in a firm, are personally liable.

Companies House is free and takes minutes at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Search by company name, number or officer name and note:

• the exact registered name including the suffix (PD 16 para 2.4 requires it on the claim form);
• the company status: active, dissolved, in liquidation, in administration;
• the registered office address, which is where you can serve the claim;
• the officers, each shown with a correspondence address and month and year of birth (residential addresses are not public). This helps confirm you have the right company and is useful if a director later needs to be served personally with an order to attend court.

Companies House does not check the accuracy of what is filed, and a registered office is often an accountant's address where the company keeps no goods. Note any trading address as well.

Limited companies and LLPs

Naming. Use the full registered name with its suffix, for example "JS Autos Limited", not "JS Autos". Online Civil Money Claims (the gov.uk "Make a money claim" service) asks for the defendant's name and postal address; the registered office is the safe choice. See Where and how to issue a claim.

Service. A company registered in England and Wales may be served by any method in CPR Part 6 or by any method permitted under the Companies Act 2006 (CPR 6.3(2)). Section 1139(1) of that Act allows a document to be served "by leaving it at, or sending it by post to, the company's registered office". Alternatively, CPR 6.9 allows service at the company's principal office or at any place of business within England and Wales that has a real connection with the claim. Personal service means leaving the document with a director, secretary, manager or other person holding a senior position (CPR 6.5(3); PD 6A para 6). A company registered in Scotland or Northern Ireland that does business in England and Wales may be served at its principal place of business here, addressed to its manager, with a copy posted to its registered office (s.1139(4)).

Directors. A judgment against a company is against the company. Directors and shareholders are not normally personally liable for it, and naming a director as a defendant without a legal basis for doing so risks that part of the claim failing. Where a director gave a personal guarantee, or contracted in their own name, the position may differ; that is a question on which independent advice is worth taking before issuing.

Enforcement. A company cannot be subject to an attachment of earnings. The usual routes are a third party debt order against the company's bank account, or a warrant or writ of control sent to the trading address rather than the registered office. HMCTS guidance warns that there may be nothing belonging to the company at its registered office and asks you to give an address where it actually carries on business.

Dissolved companies

A company shown as "Dissolved" at Companies House no longer exists and cannot be sued. Anyone with a potential legal claim against it may apply to the court to restore it to the register (Companies Act 2006 s.1029(2)(f)). The application is by claim form N208 with a witness statement, served on the Registrar of Companies and the Treasury Solicitor. The court fee is £326 from 13 July 2026 and the Registrar's costs are usually in the region of £300, and the application must generally be made within six years of dissolution. The company is then restored, and the claim can be issued against it.

Companies in liquidation or administration

Where a winding-up order has been made or a provisional liquidator appointed, "no action or proceeding shall be proceeded with or commenced against the company or its property, except by leave of the court" (Insolvency Act 1986 s.130(2)). A small claim against a company in compulsory liquidation therefore cannot be started without the court's permission, which is rarely worth seeking for an unsecured debt. Companies House shows the status and the name of the insolvency practitioner, and the practical route is to contact them about the debt.

A company that has ceased trading but has not been dissolved or wound up can be sued, but a judgment against it may be uncollectable. The Is it worth suing? guide covers the checks.

Sole traders

Naming. A sole trader is an individual and is personally liable. Practice Direction 16 para 2.4 requires the claim form to give the full name of the individual, the title by which they are known and the full trading name, for example "Jane Smith trading as JS Autos" (or "T/as"). The N1 notes give the same example. Practice Direction 7A para 9.2 alternatively allows a claim against the business name as if it were a partnership, but naming the individual is the clearer course and is what the online service expects.

Service. An individual sued in the name of a business may be served at their usual or last known residence or at the principal or last known place of business (CPR 6.9 table, entry 2). If you have reason to believe they have moved, CPR 6.9(3) requires reasonable steps to find the current address. See Finding someone's address.

Pre-action rules. If you are a business (including a sole trader yourself) and the debtor is a sole trader, the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims applies: a letter of claim with the prescribed information sheet, reply form and financial statement, and at least 30 days before issuing. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 also applies between businesses, including sole traders, allowing interest at 8% above Bank Rate (8% above Bank Rate: 11.75% for interest starting to run in 2026, and only for the unpaid price of goods or services) and fixed sums of £40, £70 or £100. See Letter before claim and Interest on a debt.

Enforcement. An attachment of earnings is not available against someone with no employer. A warrant or writ against business goods and vehicles is possible, subject to the exemption for tools of the trade up to £1,350 in total; enforcement agents may use reasonable force to enter trade or business premises but not a home.

Partnerships

Naming. Where a partnership has a name, claims must be brought against that name unless it is inappropriate to do so (PD 7A para 7.3), adding "(a Firm)" after it (PD 16 para 2.4), for example "Smith and Jones (a Firm)". The partners are personally liable for the firm's debts. This does not apply to an LLP, which is a separate legal person and is sued in its registered name like a company.

Partnership membership statement. Any party to a claim brought against a partnership in its name may demand from the partnership a written statement of the names and last known addresses of all the partners at the time the claim arose, and the partnership must provide it within 14 days (PD 7A para 8). This is how you find out whom you can enforce against.

Service. Personal service is by leaving the document with a partner or with the person who has control or management of the partnership business at its principal place of business (CPR 6.5(3)(c)). Otherwise, an individual sued in the business name of a partnership may be served at their usual or last known residence or at the principal or last known place of business of the partnership (CPR 6.9 table, entry 3).

Insolvency as a pressure tool: the £750 threshold

A creditor owed more than £750 by a company may serve a written statutory demand (form SD1) at its registered office; if the company neglects to pay, secure or compound the debt for three weeks it is deemed unable to pay its debts and a winding-up petition may be presented (Insolvency Act 1986 s.123(1)(a)). Some creditors use the demand alone as leverage.

Two cautions from the sources. The outlay for a winding-up petition is £2,600 deposit plus £352 court fee, £2,952 before any legal costs, and gov.uk warns you might not get any of the money you are owed. And it is an abuse of process to present a petition to put pressure on a company to pay a debt that is genuinely disputed: Craymanor Ltd v LS Power and Data Ltd [2021] EWHC 192 (Ch). A county court claim, with a fee of £35 to £455 for a claim up to £10,000, is the route the rules provide for a disputed or modest business debt. Ask ClaimsBot which defendant name and address to use for your claim.

Sources

• Companies House – Find and update company information
• Companies Act 2006, section 1139 – Service of documents on company
• Practice Direction 16 – Statements of case (para 2.4, titles)
• Practice Direction 7A – How to start proceedings (partnerships, paras 7–9)
• CPR Part 6 – Service of documents
• Company restoration guide (gov.uk)
• Insolvency Act 1986, section 130 – Consequences of winding-up order
• Wind up a company that owes you money (gov.uk)