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Change of Director’s Address to Companies House Default Address
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If your address has been used as a company’s registered office without your consent, there are clear steps in place to address this issue, thanks to the Companies (Address of Registered Office) Regulations 2016, effective since 6 April 2016.
This default address is used in cases where an address may have been listed without proper consent. Prior to these regulatory changes, individuals whose addresses were used without permission had little recourse for removing them from company filings, which often resulted in receiving unsolicited mail, visits from debt collectors, and even potential credit issues.
Rules to Prevent Unauthorised Address Use:
- Who Can Apply: Anyone can now request that Companies House change a company’s registered address if it’s being used without authorisation.
- Registrar’s Process: The Registrar will notify the company of the application and allow at least 28 days for the company to respond, prove authorisation, or update the address.
- Default Address: If no response or proof is provided, the Registrar will change the registered office to Companies House’s default address:
PO Box 4385, Cardiff, CF14 8LH
How This Helps You: This procedure provides a quicker, simpler remedy to prevent unauthorised use of private addresses. Importantly, mail sent to the default address will not be opened by Companies House and will be destroyed after 12 months if unclaimed.
For further details on these regulatory changes, see The Gazette’s article on this update here.
