Keeping Compliant With Companies House
22nd May 2024
We have previously addressed the topic of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, a new law intended to ensure that the details Companies House has for companies and other entities (see our past article on different types of entity here) are accurate and correct alongside powers to assist in the fight against economic crime, such as financial crimes.
The accuracy requirements of this Act include that registered office addresses must be an ‘appropriate address’ at all times. Many companies utilise a registered office address that is not their trading address (it is often, for example, their accountants). The Act defines an appropriate address as one where:
- any documents sent to the address should be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company; and
- any documents sent to that address can be recorded by an acknowledgement of delivery.
It has been the case previously that companies could provide a PO box or an address such as a paid office for their registered office address. This meant that documentation sent to the address or served at the address would not necessarily be brought to the attention of the company or it’s directors. As a result of this, when chasing payment for unpaid bills, it would be standard practice to not send preaction letters to the registered office address as they would be assumed not to have been read by the directors of the company.
The consequences of not having an appropriate address are that the company could be struck off. If the address is identified by Companies House as not appropriate, they will change the address to a default address at Companies House providing the company with 28 days to change the address to an appropriate address or Companies House will begin the striking off process.
The act also requires a “registered email address” to be provided to Companies House, this address will not be shown on the public record, but it must be an appropriate email address. An email address is an “appropriate email address” if, in the ordinary course of events, emails sent to it by the registrar would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company.
For further advice or assistance on this matter, please contact our expert Corporate Commercial team who will be happy to assist.
Article written by Corporate Commercial Solicitor, Kyle Smith.