A registered office address is your company's official address on the public register at Companies House. It's where Companies House and HMRC send statutory post, and it's shown publicly for anyone to look up. Every UK limited company must have one, from the day it's incorporated until the day it's dissolved. This guide explains what that means in practice and how to choose an address that meets the rules.
What is a registered office address?
Your registered office is the official address Companies House holds for your company. It's the legal address on the public record, and it's where government correspondence is sent: filing reminders and notices from Companies House, and letters from HMRC. It doesn't have to be where you work, and you don't have to own the building. What matters is that it's a real address in the UK where official mail will reliably reach you.
A registered office is not a description of your premises. A freelancer with a laptop, an online shop run from a kitchen table, and a 50-person firm all carry the same obligation: an address on the register where the state can write to the company. You can have no office, no staff, and no shopfront, and the requirement is identical.
Is a registered office address a legal requirement?
Yes. Every company registered in the UK must have a registered office at all times. You give it when you incorporate, and it stays on the register for the life of the company. The address must be a physical location in the UK; a name with no place attached to it is not enough (gov.uk).
The phrase that matters is "at all times". The duty doesn't pause because you've moved house, switched banks, or stopped trading for a season. If the address lapses, or post starts coming back undelivered, the company is no longer meeting a basic legal requirement — something worth fixing quickly rather than leaving.
Does a dormant company still need a registered office?
Yes. The requirement applies for as long as the company exists on the register, trading or not. A dormant company that files nothing but dormant accounts still receives statutory post from Companies House and HMRC, so its address has to stay valid and appropriate (gov.uk).
A dormant company is still a live legal entity, which is easy to forget if you set one up to hold a name and then leave it idle. Confirmation-statement notices, filing reminders and the occasional HMRC letter still arrive at the registered office. If no one reads them, deadlines pass, and the company can eventually be struck off.
Does it have to be in the same part of the UK as my company?
Yes. Your registered office must sit in the same UK jurisdiction where your company is incorporated. A company registered in England & Wales keeps its registered office in England & Wales; a Scottish company uses a Scottish address; a Northern Irish company uses one in Northern Ireland (gov.uk). An overseas address can't be used, even if that's where you run the business from.
The jurisdiction is fixed at incorporation and can't be crossed afterwards. A company formed in Scotland can't move its registered office to London, and an England & Wales company can't switch to an address in Glasgow. You can move freely within your jurisdiction, but not across the line.
This matters for non-UK residents too. Living abroad doesn't stop you owning a UK company, but the registered office still has to be a real UK address in the correct jurisdiction. That's why founders setting up from overseas usually pair the company with a UK registered office service rather than trying to use an address at home.
What is the "appropriate address" rule?
Since 4 March 2024, a registered office must be an "appropriate address": somewhere a document would be expected to come to the attention of a person, and where delivery can be acknowledged. The rule came in under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. In practice, it means a PO box on its own is no longer allowed as a registered office (gov.uk).
Two tests sit behind it. Would a posted document realistically reach a person at the address? And could someone there acknowledge that it arrived? A bare PO box fails the second test, because there is no one to confirm delivery, which is why a box on its own no longer qualifies.
What happens if Companies House finds an address inappropriate?
If Companies House decides an address isn't appropriate, it can replace it with a default address. The company then has to supply an appropriate address, with evidence, or risk being struck off (gov.uk). Getting this wrong is not a gentle warning; it can put the company itself at risk.
This is the practical argument for a genuine, staffed address over a box or an unattended unit. MVOS provides this as a regulated service: MVOS (UK) LTD is a Companies House Authorised Agent (ACSP) and an AML-supervised firm, and post sent to our registered office at 20 Grosvenor Place, Belgravia is received and scanned to your online portal — so delivery is properly acknowledged rather than left to an unattended letterbox.
Is a registered office address public?
Yes, and it's worth being clear about this before you choose one. Your registered office is published on the Companies House register, which anyone can search for free on the official Find and update company information service. Whatever address you give becomes public information tied to your company name.
That means customers, suppliers, competitors, and anyone building a mailing list can find it. And once an address is on the register, copies of that data spread to third-party sites, so it is difficult to fully remove later. It's a decision worth making deliberately before you incorporate, not after the first letters arrive.
What's the difference between a registered office and a service address?
They are two different things, and a company has both:
| Registered office | Service address | |
|---|---|---|
| Belongs to | The company | An individual (director, PSC, secretary) |
| Purpose | Official address for the company | Official contact address for that person |
| Public? | Yes | Yes |
| Can it be the same address? | — | Yes, it can be the registered office |
A director's residential address is protected and isn't shown publicly; only the service address appears (gov.uk). A single registered office service can act as both your company's registered office and your service address. For the full comparison, see registered office vs service address vs business address.
Can I use my home address as my registered office?
You can — there is no rule against it. But because the registered office is public, your home address becomes searchable by customers, suppliers, and anyone else who looks. That is the main reason founders choose a separate registered office service: it keeps their home address off the public register while still meeting Companies House requirements.
There is a lasting effect to weigh, too. Once your home is on the register, removing it later is only partly effective, because copies of the old data persist on third-party sites. Many founders decide it is cleaner to keep home and company separate from the start. We cover the trade-offs in can I use my home address as a registered office.
How do I change my registered office address?
You can change your registered office at any time through Companies House, online or by filing form AD01, and it is free (gov.uk). The new address has to meet the same rules: an appropriate address in the same UK jurisdiction. The change takes effect once Companies House registers it.
People often do this after moving home, or to get a home address off the register after using it at the start. The form is short and there is no fee. The only firm requirement is that the new address clears the same bar — appropriate, and in the right jurisdiction. There's a full walkthrough in how to change a registered office address.
Choosing a registered office is one of the first real decisions you make when you start a company. If you would rather keep your home address off the public record, MVOS provides a London registered office service at 20 Grosvenor Place, Belgravia, with post received and scanned to you online. As a Companies House Authorised Agent (ACSP) and AML-supervised firm, MVOS (UK) LTD can also handle your identity verification and formation in one place — whether you're in the UK or forming a company as a non-UK resident.