# Selling company data in UK administration or liquidation URL: https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/selling-company-data-in-administration-or-liquidation Reviewed: 2026-11-08 Once a UK company enters administration or liquidation, only the office holder can sell or license its data. Schedule 1 to the Insolvency Act 1986 lets an administrator sell company property, and Schedule 4 gives a liquidator the same power. The office holder must still comply with UK GDPR, so personal data is usually excluded or de-identified before any AI license. ## Key takeaways - The directors lose the power to sell company property once an administrator or liquidator is appointed. The office holder signs any data license. - Schedule 1 to the Insolvency Act 1986 lets an administrator sell company property by public auction or private contract. Paragraph 6 of Schedule 4 gives a liquidator the same power. - Data protection law does not pause for insolvency. The Insolvency Service says a database sale for a different use is likely to be incompatible with the original purpose. - Timing is tight. An administration ends after one year unless extended, and a company in liquidation is dissolved three months after the final account is registered. - A sale to a connected person in the first 8 weeks of an administration needs creditor approval or an independent evaluator's report. Company records are now a saleable asset in UK insolvencies. AI developers and data brokers buy code, documents and workspace archives, and an administrator or liquidator who holds those records has a duty to realize their value for creditors. This guide covers England and Wales. It explains who can sign, the powers in the [Insolvency Act 1986](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/contents), the data protection duties that come with the records and how the timetable of each process limits a sale. If the company is solvent and closing, or already dissolved, start with our guide to [selling data from a closed or closing company](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/selling-data-from-a-closed-company). It describes what the law says, not how it applies to a particular case, so take independent legal advice. ## Who can sign a data sale in UK administration or liquidation? In UK administration or liquidation, the office holder signs any data sale or license, not the directors. The appointment of an administrator or liquidator moves control of the company's property to that person. | Process | Who signs | Power to sell | Main limit | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Administration | The administrator | Schedule 1, paragraph 2: sell or dispose of company property by public auction or private contract | Must act for the purpose of administration in Schedule B1, paragraph 3 | | Creditors' voluntary liquidation | The liquidator | Section 165(2) and Schedule 4, paragraph 6 | Must act in the interests of creditors as a whole | | Members' voluntary liquidation | The liquidator | Section 165(2) and Schedule 4, paragraph 6 | The company is solvent, so members receive any surplus | | Compulsory liquidation | The liquidator, or the official receiver until one is appointed | Section 167(1) and Schedule 4, paragraph 6 | Court supervision of the winding up | | Dissolved company | No one until it is restored | None | Property passes to the Crown under section 1012 of the Companies Act 2006 | Authority to sign is the first check in our [seller vetting standard](https://sellmydatatoai.net/how-we-vet). For a company in an insolvency process, that means the trustee, liquidator or administrator acts for the company, and a buyer will ask to see evidence of the appointment. ## What powers does an administrator have to sell company data? An administrator has express power to sell company data, because data and the rights in it are company property. Paragraph 2 of [Schedule 1](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/schedule/1) gives the administrator "power to sell or otherwise dispose of the property of the company by public auction or private contract". That power is tied to the purpose of the administration. Under paragraph 3 of [Schedule B1](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/schedule/B1/paragraph/3), the administrator must aim first to rescue the company as a going concern, then to achieve a better result for creditors as a whole than a winding up, and only then to realize property for secured or preferential creditors. A data license can serve any of the three, for example by raising cash while the business is marketed for sale. ### Sales to connected persons in a pre-pack Extra rules apply if the buyer is connected to the company, such as a former director's new business. The [Administration (Restrictions on Disposal etc. to Connected Persons) Regulations 2021](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/427/regulation/3/made), in force since April 30, 2021, cover a disposal of all or a substantial part of the business or assets to a connected person in the first 8 weeks of the administration. Regulation 3 allows it only with creditor approval or a qualifying report from an independent evaluator. ## What powers does a liquidator have to sell company data? A liquidator has power to sell any of the company's property, which includes its data and the intellectual property in it. Paragraph 6 of [Schedule 4](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/schedule/4) gives the "Power to sell any of the company's property by public auction or private contract", either as a whole or in parcels. The liquidator does not need creditor or court sanction to use that power. Since May 26, 2015, when the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 amended the law, [section 165(2)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/165) for voluntary liquidations and [section 167(1)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/167) for compulsory liquidations let the liquidator exercise any of the powers in Parts 1 to 3 of Schedule 4. In practice the liquidator will still compare offers, because the duty is to get the best realistic return for creditors. Paragraph 6 allows sales in parcels, so code can go to one buyer and a document archive to another, with personal data held back from both. ## Is company data an asset of the insolvent estate? Company data is an asset of the insolvent estate to the extent the company owns rights in it. [Section 436](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/436) of the Insolvency Act 1986 defines property as including "money, goods, things in action, land and every description of property wherever situated". What a buyer pays for is usually the right to use the records, not the physical copy. That right rests on copyright in documents and code, database right under the [Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/3032/regulation/13), and the company's contracts with the people who supplied the content. Material the company licensed in from others, or holds under a client's confidentiality terms, is not the company's to sell. Office holders can also recover records held by others. [Section 234](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/234) lets the court order anyone holding "property, books, papers or records" to which the company appears entitled to hand them to the office holder. That includes former directors with exports on personal drives. ## What data protection duties does an office holder have? An office holder who takes control of a company's records takes on the data protection duties that attach to the personal data in them. Insolvency creates no exemption from UK GDPR or the Data Protection Act 2018. The Insolvency Service's technical manual on [handling personal data](https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/freedomofinformationtechnical/technicalmanual/ch73-84/Chapter81A/Part%204/Part%2041.htm) says personal data should not stay with the directors after a winding-up order, and that the official receiver is treated as controller until an insolvency practitioner is appointed. The same manual says the law "will not prevent the sale of a database containing the details of individual customers", but only for uses consistent with why the data was collected. Training an AI model is rarely what customers or staff were told about. Under [Article 8A of the UK GDPR](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2016/679/article/8A), inserted by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and fully in force since February 5, 2026, a controller judging whether a new purpose is compatible must consider the link between purposes, the context of collection, the nature of the data, the consequences for individuals and safeguards such as pseudonymization. The Information Commissioner's Office has acted on this before. On February 7, 2020 the FCA, the ICO and the FSCS issued a [joint statement](https://www.fca.org.uk/news/statements/fca-ico-and-fscs-publish-joint-statement-insolvency-practitioners-and-authorised-firms) warning that some insolvency practitioners had tried to sell clients' personal data to claims management companies unlawfully, and that standard contract terms are "highly unlikely to constitute sufficient legal consent" for that kind of sharing. > **Rule of thumb** Treat personal data as out of scope for an AI license unless there is a documented lawful basis for the new use. Office holders usually exclude HR, payroll and customer records and de-identify what remains, following a method like the one in our [de-identification guide](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/de-identification-for-ai-training-data). ## How long does an office holder have to sell company data? An office holder has until the process ends, and each process has a fixed timetable. Once the company is dissolved, the window closes and its remaining property belongs to the Crown. | Event | Time limit | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Sale to a connected person in administration | Restricted in the first 8 weeks | Regulation 3, SI 2021/427 | | End of administration | One year from appointment, extendable by the court or by consent for up to one year | Schedule B1, paragraph 76 | | Dissolution after a voluntary liquidation | 3 months after the final account is registered | Section 201(2) | | Dissolution after a compulsory liquidation | 3 months after the final account or official receiver's notice is registered | Section 205(2) | | After dissolution | Property passes to the Crown as bona vacantia | Companies Act 2006, section 1012 | A data deal takes time to prepare. Exports, exclusions, de-identification and a [data manifest](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/how-to-build-a-data-manifest) all have to be done before a buyer will sign, so an office holder who wants to sell data should start in the first weeks of the appointment, before software subscriptions lapse. If dissolution has already happened, read [who owns a dissolved company's data](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/who-owns-a-dissolved-companys-data). ## How do you sell data from a company in administration or liquidation? You sell data from a company in administration or liquidation through the office holder, in a sequence that secures the records first and the buyer second. 1. **Secure access**: Take read-only exports of code, email, chat, documents and tickets while admin accounts still work, and record when and how each export was made. 2. **Confirm the appointment**: Keep the appointment documents ready, because a buyer will want to see who can bind the company. 3. **Map rights and restrictions**: Separate what the company owns from material held under client contracts, vendor terms or third-party licenses. 4. **Set the personal data position**: Decide what to exclude and what to de-identify, and record the reasoning against the compatibility factors in Article 8A. 5. **Build the manifest and samples**: Record sources, counts, date ranges and exclusions, then draw a random redacted sample. 6. **Market to vetted buyers**: Share samples under a mutual NDA, compare offers and check any connected-person rules before accepting one. 7. **Sign before the deadline**: Sign the license and complete the transfer well before the administration ends or the company is dissolved. We work with office holders as well as directors. We do not take custody of raw data: buyers see redacted samples under a mutual NDA, and full data moves only after the license is signed directly with the buyer. The [licensing agreement checklist](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/ai-data-licensing-agreement-checklist) covers the terms to settle, and our [UK seller guide](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-company-data-to-ai-from-united-kingdom) covers the wider rules. If you are an administrator, liquidator or director of a company in an insolvency process, [request a free data valuation](https://sellmydatatoai.net/data-valuation). Sellers pay nothing to be assessed, and we will tell you whether buyers want what the company holds before the timetable runs out. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can directors sell company data once an administrator is appointed? No. Once an administrator is appointed, control of the company's property passes to the administrator, who has power under Schedule 1 to the Insolvency Act 1986 to sell or dispose of it. Directors who still hold exports should hand them over, and section 234 lets the court order anyone holding company records to deliver them to the office holder. ### Does a liquidator need creditor approval to sell company data? Not as a rule. Since May 26, 2015, sections 165(2) and 167(1) of the Insolvency Act 1986 let a liquidator exercise any of the powers in Parts 1 to 3 of Schedule 4 without sanction, including the power to sell company property. The liquidator must still act in the interests of creditors and comply with data protection law. ### Can a liquidator sell customer personal data to an AI company? It is hard to do lawfully. The Insolvency Service says a database may be sold for uses consistent with why it was collected, and that a sale for a different use is likely to be incompatible. AI training is usually a different use, so office holders normally exclude customer personal data or de-identify it before a license. Take advice on the specific records. ### What happens to company data if the administration ends without a sale? An administration lasts one year from appointment unless the court extends it or it is extended by consent for up to a year, under paragraph 76 of Schedule B1. It then usually moves into liquidation or dissolution. If the company is dissolved, its remaining property passes to the Crown under section 1012 of the Companies Act 2006. ### Can a former director buy the company's data from the administrator? A former director's new business is usually a connected person. Under the Administration (Restrictions on Disposal etc. to Connected Persons) Regulations 2021, a disposal of all or a substantial part of the business or assets to a connected person in the first 8 weeks needs creditor approval or a qualifying report from an independent evaluator. ## Sources - [Insolvency Act 1986, Schedule 1 (powers of administrator or administrative receiver)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/schedule/1), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [Insolvency Act 1986, Schedule B1, paragraph 3](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/schedule/B1/paragraph/3), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [Insolvency Act 1986, Schedule B1, paragraph 76](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/schedule/B1/paragraph/76), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [Insolvency Act 1986, Schedule 4 (powers of liquidator in a winding up)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/schedule/4), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [Insolvency Act 1986, section 165](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/165), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [Insolvency Act 1986, section 167](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/167), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [Insolvency Act 1986, section 201](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/201), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [Insolvency Act 1986, section 205](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/205), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [Insolvency Act 1986, section 234](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/234), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [Insolvency Act 1986, section 436](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/section/436), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [The Administration (Restrictions on Disposal etc. to Connected Persons) Regulations 2021, regulation 3](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/427/regulation/3/made), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [The Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997, regulation 13](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/3032/regulation/13), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [UK GDPR, Article 8A (purpose limitation: further processing)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2016/679/article/8A), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [Handling personal data](https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/freedomofinformationtechnical/technicalmanual/ch73-84/Chapter81A/Part%204/Part%2041.htm), The Insolvency Service, accessed November 2026 - [FCA, ICO and FSCS publish joint statement to insolvency practitioners and authorised firms](https://www.fca.org.uk/news/statements/fca-ico-and-fscs-publish-joint-statement-insolvency-practitioners-and-authorised-firms), Financial Conduct Authority, accessed November 2026 - [Companies Act 2006, section 1012](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/section/1012), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 --- Book a free consultation: https://sellmydatatoai.net/book-a-consultation