Business Bites: Protecting Directors’ Details [Update]

Since our last bite on 15 March, The Companies (Disclosure of Address) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 have come into force.  It is now therefore possible for an individual to apply to Companies House to have their residential address removed from publicly available documents.  This legislation applies to company directors, secretaries, people with significant control and shareholders; members of LLPs, SEs and Scottish limited partnerships; and officers or permanent representatives of overseas companies.

Applications can be made via new Companies House form SR01.  This form isn’t available to download, and it is necessary to contact Companies House directly to request a hard copy paper form.  The form requires you to confirm the details of (a) the residential address to be made unavailable, (b) the service address that will replace the residential address*, and (c) the details of the document(s) in which the residential address requires to be made unavailable. 

*If the company is dissolved, an alternative service address will not be required.  Where the replacement service address is a UK address, part of the address will be hidden, and only the first half of the post code will be publicly visible.  For non-UK addresses, only the state/province and country will be visible.

Once completed, the form requires to be returned to Companies House via the tamper proof envelope provided, together with the appropriate fee.  Companies House charge a fee of £55 for each document containing a residential address to be removed. 

It is important to note that a residential address cannot be removed if it has been used as a current or previous registered office address.  We would always therefore recommend using a business address as the company’s registered office.  The registered office address can then safely be used as a director’s service address without the need to make any residential addresses publicly visible.

Davidson Chalmers offer a registered office facility which can be used for this very purpose.  If you would like further information on removing your residential address from Companies House documents, or on our registered office facility, please get in touch at companysecretary@davidsonchalmers.com.

Disclaimer 
The matter in this publication is based on our current understanding of the law.  The information provides only an overview of the law in force at the date hereof and has been produced for general information purposes only. Professional advice should always be sought before taking any action in reliance of the information. Accordingly, Davidson Chalmers LLP does not take any responsibility for losses incurred by any person through acting or failing to act on the basis of anything contained in this publication.