To make a Companies House change of address, file the form that matches what’s moving: AD01 for the registered office, CH01 for a director, CH03 for a secretary, and PSC04 for a person with significant control. Officer and PSC changes must reach Companies House within 14 days of the change taking effect. Most filings go through the WebFiling portal and are processed within about 24 hours; paper filings take roughly a week.
Which Form You Need
The form depends on which address is changing, not on who is filing it.
- Registered office: form AD01.1GOV.UK. Change a Company’s Registered Office Address (AD01)
- Individual director’s service or residential address: form CH01.2GOV.UK. Change the Details of a Director (CH01)
- Corporate director: form CH02.3Companies House. Change of Director’s Details Form CH01
- Secretary: form CH03.4GOV.UK. Change the Details of a Secretary (CH03)
- Person with significant control: form PSC04.5GOV.UK. Give Notice of Change of Details for Person with Significant Control (PSC04)
- Single Alternative Inspection Location (SAIL), if you keep statutory registers away from the registered office: form AD02 to register the location and form AD03 to specify which records are held there. The same pair reverses the arrangement.
- Registered email address: form EM01 to update it after your first submission.
Every officer has two addresses on file: a service address, which is public, and a residential address, which is kept confidential and shared only with specified authorities. Both live on the same form, so you can update them in a single filing. If a director uses the registered office as their service address, changing the registered office does not automatically change the service address; that still needs a CH01.
The 14-Day Deadline
Changes to a director’s, secretary’s, or PSC’s details must be reported to Companies House within 14 days of the change taking place.6GOV.UK. Company Information You Must Report The clock starts on the date the change actually happened, not the date the company found out. A director who moves in January and mentions it in March has already put the company out of time. The same 14 days applies to any change in the location of statutory records.
There is no equivalent statutory 14-day rule stated for the registered office in the file, but the same practical urgency applies: the address does not officially change when the board resolves to move it. It changes when Companies House accepts and registers the filing.6GOV.UK. Company Information You Must Report Anything served on the old address before that registration date is still validly served, so make sure someone is collecting post at both addresses during the gap.
How to File
WebFiling
The Companies House WebFiling portal is the fastest route. You will need the company’s authentication code, a six-character alphanumeric code originally posted to the registered office when the company was incorporated.7GOV.UK. Company Authentication Codes for Online Filing Anyone with the code can file changes for the company, so treat it as sensitive. Online submissions are typically processed within 24 hours with instant confirmation of receipt.8GOV.UK. Filing Your Companies House Information Online
Software Filing
Accountants and formation agents often file through third-party software that connects directly to Companies House, with processing times similar to WebFiling. If someone else handles your filings, confirm they have updated every relevant form. A new registered office often means officers’ service addresses need updating too, and that is a separate filing.
Paper Filing
Paper forms are downloaded, completed, signed by a director or secretary, and posted. Processing takes about a week, sometimes longer at peak times.9Companies House. Current Paper Processing Dates Paper is mandatory in four situations for the AD01: the company has been defaulted to the Companies House address, is in liquidation, is applying to be restored to the register, or is an unregistered company.1GOV.UK. Change a Company’s Registered Office Address (AD01)
Keep the details consistent across forms filed together. If the AD01 postcode does not match the CH01 postcode for a service address at the same premises, expect a rejection and a delay in the effective date.
What the New Registered Office Must Look Like
Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, a registered office must be an “appropriate address.” That means three things:
- A real physical location in the UK. PO Boxes are not accepted, whether from Royal Mail or another provider.
- Someone acting for the company will be made aware of post delivered there.
- A sender can obtain confirmation that mail was delivered.10GOV.UK. Check the Rules for Registered Office Addresses and Email Addresses
These rules apply equally to a solicitor’s address, an accountant’s address, or a virtual office. If Companies House decides your address is not appropriate, it can replace it with a default address it holds, which starts a 28-day clock to file an AD01 with a compliant address before strike-off proceedings can begin.11GOV.UK. Striking Off or Dissolving a Limited Company
The new address must sit in the same UK jurisdiction where the company was incorporated: England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. A Scottish company cannot move its registered office to England by filing an AD01. Crossing a jurisdictional border requires re-incorporation.12GOV.UK. Make Changes to Your Private Limited Company – Company Address
The Registered Email Address
Every company must also hold a registered email address with Companies House. It is not published on the public register, but it is used for official electronic communications. You provide it when filing your first confirmation statement with a statement date on or after 5 March 2024.10GOV.UK. Check the Rules for Registered Office Addresses and Email Addresses To change it later, file form EM01. Failing to keep an appropriate registered email is a criminal offence for which the company and its officers can be fined on summary conviction.
Who Else You Have to Tell
Filing with Companies House does not finish the job. Companies House passes a registered office change to HMRC automatically for Corporation Tax purposes.13GOV.UK. Tell HMRC About a Change to Your Business Other tax registrations do not update themselves. VAT-registered businesses must notify HMRC within 30 days. PAYE records need a separate update. The Construction Industry Scheme is another separate notification.
Also update your bank, insurers, and any licensing body relevant to your trade. All company stationery, invoices, order forms, and the company website must show the current registered office. Failing to display the correct address on business correspondence is an offence under the Companies Act 2006.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline
Statutory mail keeps arriving whether you see it or not. Tax assessments, penalty notices, and compliance deadlines run against the company regardless of who is collecting the post. Directors and secretaries who fail to file required updates within the statutory deadlines face personal fines that can accumulate daily until the company complies.
If the registered office becomes inappropriate and Companies House defaults the address, the 28-day window to file a compliant AD01 is the last easy fix. Miss it and the registrar can begin strike-off proceedings, with a notice published in The Gazette and dissolution possible not less than two months later. Once the company is struck off, it ceases to exist as a legal entity and any remaining assets pass to the Crown as bona vacantia.11GOV.UK. Striking Off or Dissolving a Limited Company Restoration through the courts is possible but expensive. Filing the right form on time, and checking that Companies House has actually registered it, avoids all of this.