Neil Ryder’s Post

New rules in place for UK Companies on appropriate address for Registered Office or face fines of up to £1,000. Under the new rules, all companies registering with Companies House must ensure their address is an ‘appropriate address’ which means that in the ordinary course of events: - a document addressed to the company, and delivered there by hand or by post, would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company; and - the delivery of documents there is capable of being recorded by the obtaining of an acknowledgement of delivery. If the company’s registered office address does not meet these requirements, this means the address is not appropriate. Companies House is able to take action against the company and its officers if they break the rules. There are fines of up to £1,000 for failing to comply with the rules which are set out in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. The guidance states: ‘If we’re satisfied a company’s registered office is not appropriate, we’ll change the registered office address to a default address, held at Companies House. ‘If a company’s registered office is moved to the default address, they must provide an appropriate address with evidence of proprietary ownership within 28 days, or we could start the process to strike the company off the register.’   Any company using an agent’s address or another third-party provider’s address as their registered office must make sure the address service provided meets the requirements for an appropriate registered office address. It will no longer be possible to use a Royal Mail PO Box, and equivalent services offered by other parties, as a registered office address. The Companies House registrar has greater powers to query and challenge information that appears to be incorrect or inconsistent with information held. In future they will be able to remove information more quickly, if that information is inaccurate, incomplete, false or fraudulent. There will be stronger checks on company names which may give a false or misleading impression to the public. This will improve the accuracy and quality of the data held and help to tackle the misuse of company names. For any companies abusing the rules, annotations will be added to the register to let users know about potential issues with the information that has been supplied. While the rules affect new registrants, Companies House will also be taking steps to clean up the register, using data matching to identify and remove inaccurate information. https://hubs.la/Q02L3Dlz0

Recent changes to the new rules for registered office addresses mean that companies must now ensure their registered office is an ‘appropriate address’ or risk facing fines of up to £1,000. Get to know more in our latest article.

Guidance on 'appropriate address' for the registered office of a company. Some additional guidance has been issued by Companies House in respect of what is and isn't an 'appropriate address' for a company registered office. An address is an ‘appropriate address’ if, in the ordinary course of events: A document addressed to the company, and delivered there by hand or by post, would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company, and the delivery of documents there is capable of being recorded by the obtaining of an acknowledgement of delivery Examples of services that are not appropriate include:  Only forwarding Court documents and mail from certain UK government departments to the company . Not forwarding general business correspondence addressed to the company. There could be serious consequences for companies using an address service that does not meet the requirements for an appropriate address.   The company and its officers may be committing an offence if their registered office address is not an appropriate address. Companies House may change the registered office of all companies registered at that address to the Companies House default address, which may lead to beginning the process to strike those companies off the register.  There may also be reputational consequences for agents who have marketed and sold registered office services to their customers when those services do not meet the requirements for an appropriate address. #chalfen.com #companieshouse #registeredoffice

The latest bulletin issued by Companies House has a focus on the new rules for registered office addresses for limited companies. Companies must now have an ‘appropriate address’ as their registered office at all times. What is an appropriate address? It's an address where: ✅any documents sent to the registered office "should be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company" i.e. you'll see them ✅any documents sent to that address "can be recorded by an acknowledgement of delivery" i.e. they can be signed for, if necessary Why is this important? This update means you're not able to use a PO Box as your registered office address. So if that's something you've been doing, potentially as a way to protect your own address from being publicly available, then it's now time to act. The good news is that other options ARE available if you still don't want to use your own address. Pop a comment below if you'd like to know more.

Companies House warning on registered address rules Changes to the registered office addresses rules mean that companies must have an ‘appropriate address’ as their registered office or face fines of up to £1,000 Under the new rules, all companies registering with Companies House must ensure their address is an ‘appropriate address’ which means that in the ordinary course of events: a document addressed to the company, and delivered there by hand or by post, would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company; and the delivery of documents there is capable of being recorded by the obtaining of an acknowledgement of delivery. If the company’s registered office address does not meet these requirements, this means the address is not appropriate. Companies House is able to take action against the company and its officers if they break the rules. There are fines of up to £1,000 for failing to comply with the rules which are set out in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

🚨THE RULES FOR REGISTERED OFFICE ADDRESS HAVE CHANGED!🚨 New legislation that came into effect on 4 March 2024 requires all companies to have an ‘appropriate address’ as their registered office. They can no longer register their business using a PO Box. An appropriate address is one where any documents sent to the registered office can be received by a person acting on behalf of the company, and where receipt of those documents can be recorded by an acknowledgement of delivery. Companies that do not comply with the new law could be struck off the register. How can we help? A business mailbox solution from Mail Boxes Etc. is an ‘appropriate address’. Register your business at our centres and we will provide a real street address where we will receive all your mail and parcels, including signed-for items. A business mailbox protects your privacy Your company address will be publicly available on the online register. You cannot remove your address from the register. However, by choosing to register your business at a Mail Boxes Etc. centre, you can keep your business and personal lives separate. Use our address on the public register rather than your home address. Whether you are setting up a new company or making sure your current company complies with the new legislation, we’re here to help.

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What business address should I use for my LLC? You'll need one for business registration, ordering supplies, your website, business cards, advertising, and more. Using your home address is a privacy risk, but a virtual mailbox address can work! Learn why your LLC needs a virtual mailbox here:

While Sunshine Laws are crucial for ensuring transparency and accountability in your operations, compliance isn’t always easy. From keeping your constituents in the loop on meeting materials to finding a secure and accessible location to store your records, juggling the expectations of the Open Meetings Act along with your day-to day responsibilities can be exhausting. Fortunately, board software can simplify the challenges. Check out our blog to learn more about the requirements of Sunshine Laws and what publicly elected boards can do to streamline their compliance efforts. #SunshineWeek #BoardMembers #OpenMeetingsAct

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