There will be greater scrutiny of the registered office address provided in respect of UK companies. In particular, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill introduces a new requirement for a company to ensure that its registered office is an “appropriate” address.

An appropriate address means that documents sent to it by Companies House could reasonably be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company (and be capable of acknowledgment by that person). This doesn’t require it to be the company’s principal place of business and therefore companies can continue to use their accountants or a law firm as their registered office address. 

Any notification to Companies House regarding a change of address will need to include a statement confirming that the address is an appropriate address. Where a company’s registered office address is not considered “appropriate”, Companies House will have the power to amend a company’s registered office address. It appears that after this, should the company then fail to lodge an application to notify a new, appropriate, registered office address within a certain period of time, that company could face fines and/or strike off action.