(1)The administrator of a company may at any time apply to the court for the administration order to be discharged, or to be varied so as to specify an additional purpose.
(2)The administrator shall make an application under this section if—
(a)it appears to him that the purpose or each of the purposes specified in the order either has been achieved or is incapable of achievement, or
(b)he is required to do so by a meeting of the company’s creditors summoned for the purpose in accordance with the rules.
(3)On the hearing of an application under this section, the court may by order discharge or vary the administration order and make such consequential provision as it thinks fit, or adjourn the hearing conditionally or unconditionally, or make an interim order or any other order it thinks fit.
(4)Where the administration order is discharged or varied the administrator shall, within 14 days after the making of the order effecting the discharge or variation, send an office copy of that order to the registrar of companies.
(5)If the administrator without reasonable excuse fails to comply with subsection (4), he is liable to a fine and, for continued contravention, to a daily default fine.
Cases considering section 18 4
[2006] EWCA Civ 1720 · 14 December 2006Interprets
Provides for discharge or variation of an administration order and consequential provision. Its scope is central to the distinction between free-standing relief and relief connected with discharge. (see [15]; [38]; [47]-[49])
Permits an application at any time to discharge, vary or add an administration purpose. The court relied on this provision to permit amendment of the application to seek discharge. (see [15]; [38]; [40]-[42])
The power to make consequential provision arises on an application under section 18(1), not on a free-standing application. Once discharge was sought, the provision could support a distribution facilitating an appropriate exit. (see [38]; [47]-[49])
[2010] EWHC 2105 (Ch) · 11 August 2010Interprets
The court accepted that section 18 could support authority for an administrator to agree and pay creditors’ claims where the distribution was ancillary to discharge and facilitated the company’s exit from an old-style administration. The issue was left subject to shareholder consent and further directions. (see paras [8], [11], [16])
Section 18(3) was treated as wide enough to permit the court to sanction payment of creditors as part of a desirable exit route from administration, but it did not alter the limitation consequences of administration. (see para [11])
[2003] EWHC 2895 (Ch) · 4 December 2003Limits
An order under section 18 concerning an administration is directed to administrators. It cannot create a trust administered by liquidators appointed after the administration has ended or bind assets received by those liquidators later. (see paras [33]–[35])
What each judgment says about section 18 is in the case-law panel in the full Act.