6 Reasons Not to Use Your Home Address as a Registered Office

6 Reasons Not to Use Your Home Address as a Registered Office

It’s a hoop that every new business owner will at some point find themselves having to jump through - choosing a registered office address.

At first, this choice may seem trivial and obvious for many. After all, when starting out, you’re unlikely to have a bustling office or warehouse to jot down in this section!

This naturally leaves your home address as the obvious choice. However, due consideration should be taken here.

Although you have the freedom to utilise any address, including your home address (as long as it’s situated in the same country where your company is incorporated), it may not be the best idea considering the alternatives available.

To help you make a fully informed decision, this article intends to cover the requirements of a registered office in the UK, why you should avoid using your home as a business address where possible, and the alternatives available to you to do so.

The Official Requirements for a Registered Office in the UK Let’s establish the legal requirements for your registered office. A registered office must be a real address, and it must be based in the same country the company is registered.

That means a company registered in England must have a registered office based in England and the same goes for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. As the address must be a physical, brick-and-mortar location, PO boxes often cannot be used for the purpose as a registered office address.
 

6 Reasons Not to Use Your Home Address as a Registered Office

1. Privacy

• When you provide a registered office address for your company, it gets documented at Companies House and becomes public on the official companies register.
• This means that anyone, including those pesky cold-callers and direct mail marketers, can access this information.
• For this reason, the UK government recommends carefully considering the personal information you register with, as it cannot be removed as a registered address from the register in future, only updated.
• Additionally, if your business becomes insolvent, clients and creditors can access your residential address through the companies register.
• This, in turn, could negatively affect your personal credit history. To protect your privacy and shield yourself from such risks, it's best to refrain from using your home address as the registered office for your company.

2. Family

• Depending on your family circumstances, it may be wise to reconsider using your home address as your registered office address.
• As a single freelancer, you’re unlikely to think twice about using your home address.
• After all, it’s you that lives there and only you that will be impacted.
• However, if you have a partner or children, it's important to consider how using your home address may impact them and their individual privacy.

3. Professional Image & Credibility

• Thinking about the professional image you want to present, a commercial registered office is far more likely to impress potential clients and investors than a residential one.
• A non-residential prestigious registered office legitimises your business and boosts your professional credibility to a greater extent.
• Prospective clients and investors alike are more likely to trust a business with a commercial registered address, as opposed to a residential one.
• Use of a prestigious address can be used in marketing materials and letterheads to ensure first impressions of your business are positive.

4. Cold Callers

• As discussed early, registered office addresses are public.
• Clients, prospective suppliers, government representatives and cold callers will all make use of this information and could turn up unannounced at any time.
• To avoid a build up of junk mail and awkward situations with family members having to answer the door to multiple sales calls, it’s best to separate your home address from your business affairs.

5. Mail Handling

• Having both personal and business mail delivered to a single home address adds up quickly and can become increasingly overwhelming.
• Whilst official government mail wouldn’t be an issue, you would also have to dedicate time to sifting out all of the spam/junk/sales mail you receive.
• If not managed effectively, important correspondence with clients, suppliers and Companies House may be missed, which could all have serious ramifications.

6. Legal Requirements

• As discussed earlier, there are a few legal requirements worth noting when choosing a registered office.
• If you’re looking to set up a business in England, but your home address is listed in Scotland, this will stop you from utilising your home address - due to being in a separate country.
• Your registered office must be in the same country as the one in which your business was originally registered.

The Solution:Virtual Office Address

To avoid the nuisances we’ve discussed throughout this article, it’s best to utilise a registered office address service.

This type of address service is available from business address service providers, such as I-Support Business, at affordable rates as an alternative to using your home address.

As part of our service here at I-Support Business, you can benefit from a prestigious EC1 London virtual office address for as little as £39/year.

Included in this package:
● EC1 office address to build credibility with clients
● Free scan and email of official Companies House mail
● Free change of your existing registered office address and directors service address
● Junk mail intercepted and discarded Private and confidential service.

Sign-up online within 15 minutes today.

Don't hesitate to contact us if you want to talk to one of our friendly team about your business address options.

Concluding Thoughts
If you’re starting a business in the UK, you will have to register a business address. Whilst you may be tempted to use your home address, it's important to understand the privacy and professional drawbacks of doing so.

Alternatives, such as virtual office addresses, are available instead for use as a registered office address.