A winding up application has been served on the company
A winding up application asks the court to appoint a liquidator, usually after a statutory demand went unanswered. Hearings are commonly four to six weeks after filing, the application is advertised publicly, and dispositions of company property afterwards are void unless the court orders otherwise. Get a solicitor today.
See if you qualify in sixty seconds. No credit check to apply, no financials, no payments for the first six months. That's the HomeSec Advantage.
See if you qualifyCall an insolvency-experienced solicitor today, not next week. This is a court proceeding with fixed dates and consequences that follow automatically, and it is the one situation on this site where the first call should not be to a lender. Nothing on this page is legal advice. Once you have advice, if paying the debt is the answer and there is equity in property, we can usually move quickly.
What has actually happened
A creditor has applied to the court for orders winding the company up and appointing a liquidator. In most cases this follows a statutory demand that was not complied with within its 21 days: that failure creates a presumption that the company is insolvent, and under section 459C(2)(a) of the Corporations Act 2001 the creditor has three months from the failure to rely on it. The application is then listed for hearing, commonly four to six weeks after filing.
Four to six weeks reads like breathing room. It is not, because of what happens in the interval.
What changes the moment it is filed
| What happens | Why it matters immediately |
|---|---|
| The application is advertised | Published on ASIC's notices. Other creditors see it, and so do banks, insurers and customers who monitor them. Expect other creditors to become less patient, not more. |
| Dispositions of company property become vulnerable | Property disposed of after the application is filed is void unless the court orders otherwise. Selling an asset to raise the money is no longer the simple option it was a week ago. |
| Bank accounts | Commonly frozen or restricted once the advertisement appears, because the bank is protecting itself. Assume it and plan for it. |
| Other creditors can join | A creditor who did not start the application can be substituted for the applicant, so paying the original creditor does not always end it. |
| Directors' exposure sharpens | Continuing to incur debts from here is where insolvent trading questions get asked, which is the reason the solicitor call comes first. |
General information about a court process, not legal advice. Your solicitor will apply this to your actual facts, which is the only version that matters.
The realistic options
- Pay the debt and have the application withdrawn or dismissed. The ordinary outcome where the debt is real and the company is otherwise viable. Expect to pay the creditor's costs as well. Done through your solicitor, not by transferring money and hoping.
- Oppose it. Available where there are proper grounds — a genuine dispute, a defect in the process, evidence of solvency. This is entirely a legal question and an expensive one to get wrong.
- Restructure. Where the company is viable but the debt load is not, small business restructuring can compromise creditor debts while directors stay in control. What that involves and who qualifies.
- Appoint an administrator or liquidator voluntarily. Sometimes the right answer, and a decision for your advisers rather than for us.
Where funding fits
Only in the first of those, and only on particular facts: the debt is a known number, paying it resolves the application, the company is otherwise able to trade, and there is equity in real property to secure a loan. Where those four things are true this is a fundable situation, and funds can be with your solicitor in as little as 24 hours from a clean, complete scenario, paid to the creditor as part of resolving the proceeding.
Where they are not all true, a loan adds a secured debt against a director's property to a company that is going to be wound up anyway. We decline those files. A person decides every loan. Every application is read by a Lending Manager and every credit decision is signed off by a person. We do not use artificial intelligence to assess, approve, decline or price a loan.
How much you can borrow
Take the property's value, multiply by 80% for residential security or 70% for commercial, and subtract what is already owing on it. What is left is roughly what is available, between $20,000 and $5,000,000. Several properties can be added together, and the borrower does not have to be the owner — companies, trusts and sole traders — including start-ups, with everyone on title signing. Up to 80% on residential and 70% on commercial. Lower on large acreage, and LVRs may reduce on properties worth less than $800,000.
Note that the security here is usually a director's own property rather than a company asset, for the reason set out above.
From the call to the money
Tell us the deal
Amount, purpose, timing, the property and how the loan gets repaid. A Lending Manager gives you an indicative answer on that call — usually in minutes.
Minutes
Conditional approval
Photo ID, a rates notice and your most recent mortgage statement. That is the whole list, and it takes about fifteen minutes.
About 15 minutes
Funds released
As little as 24 hours from a clean, complete scenario. Paid where you tell us — to your account, or straight to the ATO.
As little as 24 hours
What it costs
Priced per file, on the property, the position, the amount and the exit. No rate is published, because a rate with "from" in front of it is the best file's number. How it is priced, and every fee that exists.
Questions we get on the phone
What is a winding up application?
How long do I have?
Can I stop it by paying the debt?
Why can I not just sell an asset to raise the money?
Will my bank freeze the account?
Can HomeSec lend when there is a winding up application on foot?
How fast can funds be available?
Should I get a lawyer?
What if the debt is genuinely disputed?
They hold the application, the dates and the creditor's position, and files where they are on the first call move materially faster. 1300 93 83 87, Mon–Fri, 8:30am – 5:30pm Melbourne time.
See if you qualify in sixty seconds
Three short questions, no credit check to apply and no financial statements. A Lending Manager reads it and calls you back with a real answer — not a call centre, not an algorithm.
That's the HomeSec Advantage.
Reviewed by Jason Brockmuller, Joint Chief Executive