Appropriate Registered Office Address
There will be greater scrutiny of the registered office address provided in respect of UK companies. In particular, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) has introduced a new requirement to ensure that all company registered office addresses are “appropriate”. This provision came into force on 4th March 2024.
An appropriate registered office address means one where documents sent to it by Companies House can reasonably be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company (and be capable of acknowledgment by that person). This doesn’t require it to be the company’s principal place of business and therefore companies can continue to use their accountants or a law firm as their registered office address, provided it meets the conditions of being an appropriate address.
Any notification to Companies House regarding a change of registered office address will need to include a statement confirming that the address is an appropriate address. Companies House has the power to change the address of a company's registered office if the Registrar is satisfied that the company is not authorised to use the address and will take action against those companies who persistently fail to provide an "appropriate" registered office address. Should a company fail to lodge an application to notify a new, appropriate, registered office address within a certain period of time, that company can face fines and/or strike off action.
Note that companies cannot use PO Boxes as their registered office address.