A registered office address is the official address of a company registered in the United Kingdom. It appears on the public register and receives statutory mail from Companies House, HMRC and the courts, whether the company trades from those premises or uses a professional registered office address service instead. This guide explains what a registered office address is, the legal rules it must meet and the consequences of getting it wrong.
- The “appropriate address” test makes PO Boxes unusable and requires a location where delivery can be acknowledged, or Companies House may impose its own default address.
- Historic registered offices, including home addresses, stay permanently visible on the public record for decades, so early address choices have long-term privacy consequences.
- Recent reforms centralise most statutory registers at Companies House, but the register of members must now always be kept by the company at its registered office or SAIL.
- If Companies House moves a company to its default address or an address is challenged via RP07, the company risks missing statutory mail and potential strike-off.
What Is a Company Registered Office Address?
Maintaining a registered office is a duty under the Companies Act 2006. Section 86 states: “A company must at all times have a registered office to which all communications and notices may be addressed”. The duty begins on incorporation, because an address must be given on the application to register the company, and it continues until the company is dissolved.
The registered office is where statutory correspondence arrives: filing reminders and notices from Companies House, tax letters, and formal legal documents. This last point deserves attention. A court claim delivered to the registered office is treated as validly served on the company, even if nobody there ever reads it. An unreliable address can therefore cost a company the chance to defend itself.
The registered office is also the default location where certain company records are kept available for inspection, unless the company designates a SAIL address (a single alternative inspection location) for that purpose. It does not have to be the place where the business actually operates: a company may trade from anywhere, including from abroad.
Registered Office vs Other Company Addresses
The registered office belongs to the company itself. It is regularly confused with the addresses that company law requires from individuals connected with the company.
Every director, secretary and person with significant control (PSC) must provide their own statutory correspondence address, known as a service address. How this works for individuals is explained in our overview of the director’s service address. A company’s registered office cannot automatically perform this role for its officers.
In practice, officers who do not want their home details on the public record use a professional service address, which may be at the same location as the registered office but is a legally separate designation for each individual.
Neither of these statutory addresses deals with everyday commercial post. Letters from banks, customers and suppliers are directed to a business postal address, which is optional and does not appear on the public register. Companies House paperwork also uses the broader term explained in our note on the company correspondence address, which adds to the confusion between these categories.
Registered Office Address Rules
A Physical Address in the Company’s Jurisdiction
The registered office must be a physical address in the United Kingdom, located in the same jurisdiction in which the company is registered: England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. A company registered in England and Wales may place its registered office anywhere in England or in Wales, but never in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Both residential and commercial premises are acceptable, provided the company has permission to use them.
The “Appropriate Address” Test
Since 4 March 2024, following amendments made by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, section 86 of the Companies Act 2006 also requires every company to keep an “appropriate address” as its registered office at all times. The registered office address rules now contain two practical limbs, summarised below.
| Requirement | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Documents must reach the company | A document delivered there by hand or by post would, in the ordinary course of events, be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company. |
| Delivery must be recordable | The delivery of documents can be confirmed by obtaining an acknowledgement of delivery. |
A PO Box cannot satisfy this test, even where the full postal details are supplied, because nobody at a PO Box can acknowledge delivery. An address run by a third party, such as an accountant or a formation agent, is acceptable as long as it meets both limbs. The company address rules published on GOV.UK reflect the same requirements. The same reforms added a related duty to maintain a registered email address, although that address is not shown to the public.
Where the Address Must Appear
The registered office address is published on the public register, which anyone can search free of charge. The history matters as much as the current entry: every previous registered office remains visible in the company’s filing record for the life of the company and for around 20 years after dissolution, and it cannot be removed, even where it is a director’s home. The scope of what the register reveals is set out in our review of company information on public record.
Disclosure does not stop at the register. Under the Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008, a company must state its registered office address, its registered number and its part of the United Kingdom of registration on business letters, order forms and websites. The company’s registered name must also be displayed on a sign at the registered office itself (and at any SAIL location), except in limited cases such as a company that has been dormant since incorporation.
Records Kept at the Registered Office
The rules on company records changed significantly under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Since 18 November 2025, companies are no longer required to maintain their own registers of directors, directors’ residential addresses, secretaries or PSCs. That information is now filed with Companies House and held centrally, so the public record has become the authoritative source.
The register of members moved in the opposite direction. The duty to keep it remains with the company, and since 26 January 2026 the option of holding it centrally at Companies House has been withdrawn: every company must keep its own register of members at its registered office or at a SAIL address.
Other records that must still be kept available for inspection at the registered office (or SAIL) include:
- the register of members and, where relevant, the register of debenture holders;
- copies of resolutions and minutes of general meetings, retained for ten years;
- directors’ service contracts and any qualifying indemnity provisions;
- copies of instruments creating charges over the company’s assets;
- contracts relating to a purchase by the company of its own shares.
Records may be held in hard copy or electronically, provided they can be produced for inspection. The wider picture of what must be retained, and for how long, is covered in our summary of limited company records.
Home, Office or Third-Party Address: What to Consider
Privacy Consequences of a Home Address
Using a home address as the registered office is lawful, but the decision is close to irreversible in its effects. The address enters the public register permanently, must appear on the company’s letters and website, and identifies where formal legal documents – including court claims – will be served. Directors who value privacy, or who simply prefer not to receive statutory and legal mail at home, tend to separate their residence from the company’s official address from the outset.
When Permission Is Needed
A home address may also carry restrictions. Tenants may need consent from a landlord, housing association or local authority, and owned property can be subject to a restrictive covenant limiting business use. Social housing agreements deserve particular care, since running a business from the property can breach the tenancy. Where part of a home is used exclusively for business, liability for business rates can also arise.
If neither the home nor separate trading premises suit, a company may use an address supplied by a third party, typically an accountant or a company formation agent, with that party’s permission. Such arrangements are often described as a virtual office address, although the label covers very different services, and whichever provider is used, the appropriate address test must still be met. The options across all address types are set out side by side in our guide to company addresses.
How to Change a Registered Office Address
A company changes its registered office by giving notice to Companies House on form AD01 (form LL AD01 for a limited liability partnership), online or on paper. Since 4 March 2024 the notice must confirm that the new address is an appropriate address. The change takes effect only once the registrar registers it, not when the form is submitted.
Section 87 of the Companies Act 2006 then adds a transitional rule that is easy to overlook: for 14 days after the change is registered, documents may still be validly served on the company at the previous address. Mail handling at the old address should therefore continue through that window. The company is also allowed up to 14 days to move the records kept for inspection and to update the address wherever it is displayed, including stationery, the website and the sign at the office.
Two limits apply. The new address must remain in the company’s jurisdiction of incorporation, so a company registered in England and Wales cannot move its registered office to Scotland or Northern Ireland. And the old address does not disappear: it stays in the filing history permanently. The filing steps, timing and common pitfalls are described in our practical guide to changing a registered company address.
What Happens If the Address Does Not Comply
Keeping an appropriate registered office is a continuing duty. Where a company fails to do so without reasonable excuse, the company and every officer commit an offence, and financial penalties can follow. Companies House also holds direct powers over the address itself, summarised below.
| Failure | Consequence |
|---|---|
| The address is not an “appropriate address” | Companies House may request evidence within 14 days or replace the address with its own default address without notice. |
| No valid address is provided within 28 days of a move to the default address | Companies House may begin the process of striking the company off the register. |
| A company uses someone’s address without consent | The occupier or owner may apply on form RP07; if upheld, the company is moved to the default address. |
The default address is held at Companies House, which is under no obligation to open or forward mail delivered there, so a company parked at it is effectively cut off from its statutory correspondence. Escaping the default address requires a paper form AD01 together with evidence of the company’s right to use the new address.
The RP07 route matters from both sides. For a company, it is a reason never to register an address without written permission. For homeowners and landlords, it is the remedy when their address has been hijacked by a company they have never heard of, and measures such as company fraud protection reduce the risk of that manipulation happening in the first place.
Getting the Registered Office Right from Day One
The question of what a registered office address is comes down to three practical points: where legal documents bind the company, what the public can see about its founders indefinitely, and whether Companies House regards the company as reachable at all. Choosing the address deliberately at incorporation – and keeping it appropriate, current and properly displayed afterwards – removes an entire category of compliance risk before it can arise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a registered office address be outside the United Kingdom?
No. The registered office must be in the jurisdiction where the company is registered: England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. Owners may live and run the business from anywhere in the world, but the company still needs a UK registered office. By contrast, an officer’s service address may be located overseas.
Can several companies share the same registered office address?
Yes. There is no statutory limit on the number of companies at one address, which is why accountants and formation agents host many companies at a single location. Each company must independently satisfy the “appropriate address” test, and Companies House scrutinises addresses where large numbers of registrations look implausible for the premises.
Is a PO Box acceptable as a registered office?
No. Since 4 March 2024 a PO Box cannot be used, even with the full postal details, because delivery there cannot be acknowledged by a person acting for the company. The address must be a physical location where post is received and signed for; a staffed third-party address, such as an agent’s office, qualifies.
How long do previous registered office addresses stay on the public register?
For the life of the company and for around 20 years after it is dissolved. Every past registered office remains visible in the filing history and cannot be removed, even where it is a home address. This permanence is the main reason to think carefully before registering a private residence.
What is the difference between a registered office and a SAIL address?
A SAIL (single alternative inspection location) is an optional second address where a company may keep its records available for inspection instead of the registered office. It must be in the same jurisdiction. The registered office remains the company’s official address for statutory mail; a SAIL never replaces it.
Does HMRC use the registered office address?
Yes. Corporation tax letters and other statutory notices are sent to the registered office by default, although a company can ask HMRC to hold a separate correspondence address. After any change of registered office, it is worth confirming that HMRC, banks and other counterparties hold the current details rather than assuming they update automatically.
What happens to documents sent to the old address after a change?
Under section 87(2) of the Companies Act 2006, documents may be validly served on the company at the previous address for 14 days after the change is registered. A claim delivered to the old office within that window counts as served, so mail arrangements there should continue until the period has safely passed.
Do LLPs need a registered office address?
Yes. The registered office provisions of the Companies Act 2006 apply to limited liability partnerships, with modifications, under the LLP regulations. The same jurisdiction and “appropriate address” rules apply, statutory mail is served in the same way, and an LLP changes its registered office by filing form LL AD01.
