Dissolving company and trading under a new name

[Clariman]

We're considering getting some work done in our house. He says that he has been in the business for about 5 years and seems to have lots of happy customers. He offers a multi-year workmanship guarantee. However, closer inspection shows that he operated under another (Limited Company) name at the same address. The earlier company was set up in 2015 and then voluntarily dissolved in 2017. His new company name does not appear to be registered at company's house so I presume that means he is operating as a sole trader??

Would this simply imply that he set up as a Ltd company and then decided he didn't need it ... or is it suggestive that he dissolved the company to get rid of creditors or other company obligations? Either way, what benefit is a multi-year guarantee???

Thanks
C

[pochisoldi]

We're considering getting some work done in our house. He says that he has been in the business for about 5 years and seems to have lots of happy customers. He offers a multi-year workmanship guarantee. However, closer inspection shows that he operated under another (Limited Company) name at the same address. The earlier company was set up in 2015 and then voluntarily dissolved in 2017. His new company name does not appear to be registered at company's house so I presume that means he is operating as a sole trader??

Would this simply imply that he set up as a Ltd company and then decided he didn't need it ... or is it suggestive that he dissolved the company to get rid of creditors or other company obligations? Either way, what benefit is a multi-year guarantee???

Thanks
C

"Voluntarily dissolved" would imply a decision to get rid of the ltd company and trade only as a sole trader.
You need to tell us what other documents were filed at Companies House in the run up to the company being removed from the register to be more certain.

It is possible that the Ltd company was used as a "special purpose vehicle" or "special purpose entity" for a specific job, and the person has been a sole trader throughout the period as well.

PochiSoldi