Registered office
| All companies are required, at all times, to have a registered office to which communications and notices can be addressed - section 287(1) of the Companies Act 1985. If a company wishes to change the situation of its registered office, it must give Companies House notice in the prescribed form (Form 287) within 14 days of the change, and Companies House will record the new situation - section 287(3)) of the Companies Act 1985.
Companies are required to keep various documents (e.g. the Register of Members and the Register of Directors and Secretaries - per sections 353 and 288 respectively of the Companies Act 1985) at their registered offices.
A company may have its main or principal office (i.e. the place from which the business of the company is managed and controlled) in a different country from its registered office e.g. its main or principal office may be in Scotland even though its registered office is in Wales. There is no requirement for a company to advise Companies House as to the location of its main or principal office.
There is no prohibition, in company law, on a company having its registered office at a residential address. There must however be suitable external signage showing the name of the company.
Companies House will allow combined PO Box/physical addresses such as 'PO Box 68 Jubilee House 85 Salop Street Wolverhampton West Midlands WV3 0SA'. However it will almost certainly reject a 'pure' PO Box address such as 'PO Box 325, Portsmouth PO5 3SD'.
The requirement for external signage arises from section 348 of the Companies Act 1985 as follows:
| | 348 Company name to appear outside place of business |
(1) | Every company shall paint or affix, and keep painted or affixed, its name on the outside of every office or place in which its business is carried on, in a conspicuous position and in letters easily legible. |
(2) | If a company does not paint or affix its name as required above, the company and every officer of it who is in default is liable to a fine; and if a company does not keep its name painted or affixed as so required, the company and every officer of it who is in default is liable to a fine and, for continued contravention, to a daily default fine. |
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