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The business was sold to someone else. Does the new owner owe me?

The short answer

Usually not. Company debts belong to the company that took them on2, and a company is a body corporate whose members can change1, so a change of owner changes nothing about who owes you. If the shares were sold, it is the same company and it still owes you; if the assets were sold, the old company keeps the debt. The buyer owes you the old invoice only if it agreed to take it on, so get that in writing.

Mara, WolfX research desk
Written with AI, checked by a person · 9 October 2026

England and Wales only. WolfX is software, not a law firm.

What you can add

A £5,400 invoice, sold from under you

Say you invoiced a company £5,400, due on 31 July 2026. On 1 September its business is sold. On 30 September the invoice is 61 days late, using the rate set for invoices that go late in the second half of 2026.

£5,400.00The invoice

£106.04Interest: £5,400 × 11.75% ÷ 365 × 61 days9

£70.00Fixed sum (invoices from £1,000 to £9,999.99)8

£5,576.04Owed on 30 September 2026

Then it grows by £1.74 a day until it is paid. The sale changed none of this. The company you invoiced owes the £5,576.04, and the buyer owes nothing for it unless it agrees to take it on.

The road ahead

Six steps. All free.

Step 1: Find out which kind of sale it was
Look it up on Companies House6. Same number and name, new owners: shares were sold. New company, similar name, old one listed: assets were sold. The law allows it3.
The old company keeps your invoice and gets the sale price, which is what it has to pay you with.
Cost: FreeTime: 5 minutes
Step 2: Work out the sum
For an invoice that went late in the second half of 2026, interest is 8% over Bank Rate9, which is 11.75% a year10. Each day late adds the invoice × 11.75% ÷ 365.
Add the fixed sum8 once.
Cost: FreeTime: 10 minutes
Step 3: Send the letter to the company you invoiced
Email it and post it to the registered office on the register, and copy the new owner. The demand goes to the company that owes the money, whoever answers the phone now.
Cost: FreeTime: Same day
Step 4: Give 14 days, then look at the register again
Anyone who says the debt was taken on should send you the signed agreement. On the register, watch for a notice to strike the old company off, and object with your invoice7 as soon as it appears.
If the old company goes into liquidation, a court can undo a sale made for significantly less than the assets were worth4, especially a cheap sale made to put assets beyond a creditor's reach5. See liquidation.
Cost: FreeTime: 14 days
Step 5: Still unpaid? Send a letter before action
Address it to the same company. How to write one. If the seller was a sole trader, they must get 30 days to reply11.
Cost: FreeTime: 14 or 30 days
Step 6: Take payment first on any new order
The new owner is a new customer. Ask for payment up front, or check them first.
Cost: FreeTime: 10 minutes

A letter you can copy

Letter to the company, copied to the new owner

Send it as soon as you hear the business was sold and the invoice is still unpaid.

New email

SubjectInvoice : payment due, copied to the new owner

Dear , Invoice , dated , for , was due on . It has not been paid. I have heard that the business has since been sold. The invoice is owed by your company, the one I supplied, so I am writing to it at its registered office. Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, I have added interest of to date, growing by a day, and fixed compensation of . The total due today is . Please pay the full amount by to: If anyone says another company took on this debt, please send me the signed agreement. , I am copying you so that you can tell me in writing whether your company took it on. If you believe any of this is wrong, please tell me before that date and say why. If it is not paid by then, I will send a letter before action. Kind regards, Copy to:

Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.

Email it so it is dated, post a copy to the registered office shown on the register, and keep both with the invoice. Send the new owner the same copy, by email.

When not to bother

When it isn't worth it

The sum is small and the new owner is a client you want. They have no duty to pay it, so ask politely and keep the letter going to the old company.
The old company has been dissolved, or it was a pre-pack. A dissolved company cannot be written to: see the dissolved company page. After a pre-pack the administrator deals with creditors, not the buyer.
The seller was a sole trader. The person who owes you is still that person, not the buyer, and a claim against them goes through the 30-day debt protocol11.
The old director now runs the buyer. That is a different question: see whether you can chase the new company.
The companies are in Scotland or Northern Ireland. This page covers England and Wales, and the court routes there differ.

The Wolf's note

The sign over the door changed. The name on your invoice did not. Write to that name, copy the buyer, and keep the buyer's answer in writing, because a friendly call does not count.

Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX

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