Does your UK entity have an appropriate registered office address? 

If you registered your company in spring and summer this year, you might already know that as of 4 March 2024, companies incorporated in the UK must use an appropriate registered office address to comply with new regulations under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.  

Here’s a quick overview of how to remain compliant with the new rules – and how AVASK can help. 

Who do these new rules affect? 

Brought in to enhance corporate transparency and combat economic crime in the UK, these rules affect new registrants. If you registered before the legislation came in, Companies House will be looking to clean up their database, using data matching to identify and remove inaccurate information. This is because the Act also introduced measures to make Companies House’s data more accurate and transparent.

The 4 criteria your office address must meet to be deemed appropriate 

Under the new rules, all companies registering with Companies House must ensure their address is an ‘appropriate address’ which means that it needs to: 

1. Have a physical address in the UK 
2. Be in the same country your company is registered in 
3. Have you (or someone acting on behalf of your company) made aware of any post addressed and delivered to your company  
4. Allow senders of post to your company’s address to get delivery confirmation when your company receives post at this address 

If your company’s registered office address does not meet these requirements, this means it’s not appropriate. 

Can you use a third-party address as a registered office? 

If you currently use a registered office service from a third party, you must check that it satisfies the new appropriate address rules, and continues to meet your company’s needs.

Firstly, you can’t use: 

• A Royal Mail PO Box 

• Virtual address  

• Any other equivalent service 

But, as long as the address service provided meets these requirements, you can use: 

• An agent’s address  

• Another third-party provider’s address 

• AVASK’s registered address service 

What happens if the registered office you want to use is deemed ‘not appropriate’? 

This will be moved to the Companies House default address. There’ll then be a 28-day grace period for you to provide an appropriate address – with evidence of proprietary ownership. 

What happens if you don’t give an appropriate address in the 28 days? 

Companies House will take action against companies failing to comply. The consequences could be: 

• A fine of up to £1,000  

• Prosecution 

• Being struck off the Companies House register 

For any companies abusing the rules, annotations will be added to the register to let users know about potential issues with the information that was supplied.