Published 13 November 2026.
Old files sitting on a company server are not automatically the company’s to license. Some were created by your own staff in the ordinary course of work. Some were supplied by a client, a contractor or a software vendor. Some are wrapped in confidentiality terms, a professional duty, or a lender’s charge. Sorting that out is not a formality. It is the difference between a conversation that can go somewhere and one that should stop.
In a first look we talk through ownership, authority and restrictions, and we say plainly if it isn’t a fit. You pay nothing for that. We don’t give legal advice, and we ask to see relevant authority before anything goes further. How we’re paid. The checks we make are also on our trust page.
Ownership and origin
Records your company created through its own work are a different starting point from material you hold for a client, or data that lives inside a licensed system on a vendor’s terms. Contractor and freelancer work depends on what was agreed at the time. If the business itself was bought, the sale agreement may already say who owns the archive.
A useful question: if a particular folder disappeared tomorrow, who would have the right to complain? If the answer is “a client” or “another company”, that folder probably isn’t yours to license without their agreement.
Confidentiality, privilege and professional rules
Client agreements and NDAs can rule material out, even when the company owns the file. Law firms have additional duties of confidentiality and legal professional privilege; we have a separate page for law firms. Accountancy practices have their own professional rules; see accountants.
People, notices and sensitive material
Staff, customers and suppliers appear throughout ordinary business records. What people were told in a privacy notice is one of the things to look at, not the only thing. Health, payment-card and other sensitive information is usually left out of any licensed copy. How the rest is handled is agreed in writing before anything is shared. See UK data protection and preparing records.
Authority to sign
Only someone who can bind the company — or an office-holder appointed over it — can agree a licence. Directors of a trading company, a liquidator or administrator, and a receiver (for assets within their appointment) are the usual starting points. Former directors of a dissolved company usually cannot deal with its assets, which have typically passed to the Crown. See digital records when a company closes and the insolvency guides.
Lenders’ security can also cover records. If there is a charge, that needs to be looked at before anyone assumes the company is free to license them.
If it isn’t clear
Say so. A first look can end with “not a fit” or “this needs advice before anything else”. That’s a useful outcome. Whole categories can stay out of a deal; you don’t have to license everything you hold. Describe the records — don’t send them — and we’ll tell you what we think.
This page is general information, not legal advice. It isn’t a ruling on any case. Please speak to your own adviser about your situation.
Sellers pay nothing. The first look is free. How we’re paid.