What is the Director's Service Address?

Ryan Patrick

• 6 min read
What is the Director's Service Address?

When registering a limited liability company, you need to provide Companies House with the address of your directors.

This is a compulsory record that must be sent to Companies House or else the company will not be approved.

but what is a director's service address and what are the pros and cons of using it? In this blog post, we will answer this question. Let's begin.

What is the Director's Service Address?

A director service address is an address used by a director of any company or organisation as their official address that all correspondence will be sent or mailed regarding the directorship of the company. This address is usually made public and is accessible by anybody.

Due to privacy reasons, directors are advised not to use their residential address as their service address as this will pose a threat to them and their families.

Unsatisfied customers can use the address of the directors and cause nuisances or harm to the director and their families.

The Companies Act of 2006 has enabled the directors to use a correspondence address as their service address instead of their residential address.

Types of Director's Address

According to Companies House, every director of a limited liability company must provide a service address where all mail will be sent.

The director's address might be a residential address, a correspondence address also known as a service address or the company's official address.

Residential Address

The directors can use their residential address as their service address also but this is not advisable.

Directors using their home address as a service address might keep their address available to predators.

This also reduces their privacy since the public knows where they live and they are easily accessible.

If you provide a correspondence address, then your residential address will remain private and can only be accessed by authorities.

Correspondence Address

The correspondence address is an address that a director wants all their official mail sent. This Correa address is always made public.

The correspondence address was started in 2006 when companies saw that their directors who put their residential address on the service address, were open to a lot of risks.

Some customers who were not satisfied with the dealings of the company, could easily locate the director and cause harm to them and their families.

The correspondence address was improvised for safety methods and a way of separating residential address from service address.

Your correspondence address might be a professional service address or might be a location which you feel is appropriate for your mail and important documents to be dropped off.

You might choose another company address, your company's address or even a postal office or address as your official service address.

Company Address

This is the official location of your company as included in public records. This location must be true or as stated in the application for a limited liability company at the company's house.

If the address is false, Companies House will reject the application.

If you move your company to a new location, it is very important to change your address on public records at the Companies House

How Do The Companies House Use the Director's Address?

Companies House use the director's residential address for official purposes regarding the position as the director of that particular company.

These purposes may include questioning by the government about the activity going on in the company.

The address is officially private and can only be accessed by official bodies like the Companies House and the government.

The Companies House uses the director's correspondence address for sending mail and important information and documents concerning the company for which they hold directorship.

Your correspondence address can also be your residential address if you choose to and you can also use a different address.

You can use your company's address, a professional service address, or a convenient address for you that you will want all your mail delivered.

You can also choose to make your residential address private but you must first provide a correspondence address that will be made public.

It is better to input the correspondence address of a director when applying for a company to reduce the future stress of trying to change it to another address.

Also, changing the address will have to be effected on some documents and the cost will be high compared to when you use a correspondence address at first.

This is the reason why a professional service address should be used. This address even if you move, you can still get your mail delivered to you by the professional service address.

Can I Change My Residential Address From Public?

Yes, you can. You can always change your residential address from public to private at your convenience.

This is made possible by Section 1088 of the Companies Act 2006, which states that a director can request to remove their residential address from being public.

This act was made as a way of protecting the privacy of directors of companies and to keep them safe.

Recently, directors have been able to apply for data suppression which was implemented through the Companies (Disclosure of Address) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.

This has made it easier for directors, secretaries and persons with significant control (PSC) of companies.

With this law, you can ask Companies House to remove your address from all public records available since 2003.

Data suppression can be done with records of existing companies and also dissolved companies.

NOTE: You cannot remove a home address from public records where it has been used as a registered office address or a Single Alternative Inspection Location (SAIL).

To remove your address from public records, you'll have to fill out the form SR01 from Companies House, through post or webfiling.

Form SR01

The form SR01 is the official form for removing directors' addresses from public records. Application is under section 1088, an individual removing their address from public records.

The form contains the following information

  • Full name of the individual requesting for the removal of address (include any former name(s) if applicable)
  • Date of Birth
  • Correspondence address to be used for public records.
  • Residential address that you want to remove from the register.
  • A service address replacing the residential address.
  • Correct details of all documents containing the address you want to remove.
  • The company's name and registration number (the company to which your details apply).
  • Document type, name and number.
  • Date of registration of the document at Companies House.
  • Signature of the applicant.

After completing the form, you must send the application to the Companies House by post with a fee of £55.00 (can be paid by cheque or postal order).

This fee (£55.00) applies for each document containing the address you want to remove.

Below are some public documents that may contain the residential address of a director, secretary or person with significant control (PSC)

Other records of the company that the company has put out to the public.

Pros and Cons of a Professional Service Address

Using a professional service address, even as good as it seems, can also have its disadvantages. Here we will look at the advantages and disadvantages of using a professional service address.

The Pros

Here are the advantages of a professional service address.

Privacy

Directors can have their privacy by not using their home addresses on public records. This can reduce the issues of business customers visiting or prying into the privacy of directors at their houses.

Less cost

The cost of changing your address as a director of an existing company is high and can be stressful and time-consuming.

It is preferable to use a professional service address as all your mail will be delivered to you at your convenience.

Also, renting a commercial office as a company is much cheaper than using a professional service address.

Since as a director, you're required to provide your service address, and failure to do that, the company's application might get rejected.

The professional service address can save you the stress of searching for where to use it without exposing your house address to the public.

The Cons

Here are the disadvantages of a professional service address.

Multiple Business Service Address

Since the professional service address is open for lots of companies, multiple companies can use the same address and it will be easily discovered by customers.

Urgent Mails can be Delayed

An urgent mail sent to a director can be delayed due to the process of the service address mailing it to the director's location.

This happens mostly when the director stays in a very far location or a different country from the service address.

However, with the internet and recent technologies, the service address can send scans or soft copies of the original document to the director.

Conclusion

A director's service address is the address to all the director's mail and documents will be mailed from the Companies House. Some directors use their residential address as a service address which is not safe since it is made public. Directors can also use the registered company's location as their service address and have all documents dropped there. You should know the difference between a service address, a correspondence address and the residential address of a director.
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