Registered Office Address: Companies House Rules (2026) & Legal Requirements

What is a Registered Office Address?

A registered office address is the company’s official public address. Limited companies and LLPs must provide one to Companies House and keep it up to date throughout the life of the organisation.

Official notices, statutory correspondence and legal documents addressed to the company can be delivered there. The company does not have to carry out its day-to-day trading activities from its registered office.

Companies House Registered Office Address Rules (2026)

The Companies Act 2006, as amended by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, requires every company to maintain an appropriate registered office address at all times. The address must meet the following Companies House requirements.

1. It Must Be in the Same UK Jurisdiction

The registered office must remain in the part of the UK where the company was incorporated:

• England and Wales
• Wales, for a company registered specifically as a Welsh company
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland

A company registered in England and Wales can use an address in either England or Wales. A Welsh company must use an address in Wales, while companies incorporated in Scotland or Northern Ireland must keep their registered offices in those jurisdictions.

2. It Must Be a Physical Address, Not a PO Box

The registered office must designate a physical address in the UK to which company documents can be delivered. A Royal Mail PO Box or an equivalent mailbox service cannot be used as the registered office address.

You can use the physical address of an accountant, solicitor, formation agent or other service provider if you have permission and the address meets all the appropriate address requirements.

3. Documents Must Reach Someone Acting for the Company

A registered office is appropriate only if:

• documents delivered there would ordinarily come to the attention of someone acting for the company
• the sender can obtain an acknowledgement that the documents were delivered

This does not require a director to remain physically present at the address throughout the day. However, the company must have reliable arrangements for receiving, recording and passing on its statutory mail.

If Companies House decides that an address is inappropriate, it can replace it with a default Companies House address. The company then has 28 days to provide an appropriate address and evidence that it is entitled to use it. Companies House can begin strike-off action if the company does not comply.

You Now Also Need a Registered Email Address

Every company must maintain an appropriate registered email address where messages from Companies House are expected to reach someone acting for the company. New companies provide the email address during incorporation. An existing company that has not already provided one must do so when filing its next confirmation statement.

The registered email address:

• is used by Companies House to communicate about the company
• is not displayed on the public register
• can be used for more than one company
• must be monitored and kept up to date

A company that has already provided its email address can change it through the Companies House registered email address service.

How to Change Your Registered Office Address

You can change your registered office at any time, provided the new address is appropriate and remains in the same part of the UK where the company was incorporated.

To change it:

1. Choose an appropriate replacement address and obtain permission to use it.
2. File the change through the Companies House online filing service or submit form AD01.
3. Notify Companies House within 14 days of the change.
4. Continue monitoring the existing address until Companies House registers the filing.

The change does not legally take effect until it has been registered. Companies House will notify HMRC of the new registered office address.

Keeping Your Home Address Private

Your registered office address appears on the public Companies House register and can also be found through search engines and third-party company-information services. You can use your home address, but you should use a different address if you do not want your residential details made public.

An alternative address can be provided by an accountant, solicitor, formation agent or registered office address service. You must have permission to use it, and it must meet the physical-address, jurisdiction and appropriate-address requirements.

If your home address is already on the register:

1. Change the registered office first if the company is active.
2. Check the company’s filing history to identify the documents containing the address.
3. Apply to Companies House using form SR01 to remove the address from eligible documents.

The application costs £34 for each document. If the company has been dissolved, you must wait six months before applying to remove an address previously used as its registered office. Companies House may hide only part of a former address in some circumstances, and removal from its register cannot guarantee that copies already collected by third-party websites will disappear.

This removal process is separate from applying to protect a director’s private usual residential address from disclosure to credit reference agencies. That additional protection is available only where the statutory risk conditions are met.

Registered Office vs Director Service Address

A registered office belongs to the company, while a director service address belongs to an individual director. Both appear on the public register, but they receive different statutory correspondence.

A director must also provide their usual residential address to Companies House. This is separate from the service address and is normally kept off the public register.