Register a charge at Companies House (MR01)

A charge is security a company gives over its property or assets, usually to a bank or other lender. Common examples are a legal mortgage over land or buildings and a debenture with fixed and floating charges over the business.

For a charge the company created on or after 6 April 2013, the form is MR01, 'Register particulars of a charge'. It is filed with a certified copy of the charge instrument, which is the signed deed. Both go on the company's public record.

The company or any person interested in the charge can register it. That includes the lender or the lender's solicitor. Lenders often register charges themselves, so check the company's charges on the register before you file. That way the same charge is not filed twice.

The charge must be delivered to Companies House within 21 days. The 21 days start the day after the charge is created. Count from the date the charge was created, not from the date the loan money arrived.

If the 21 days pass, you need a court order to register the charge. Only the court can extend the time. Applying to court is not part of this service, so establish the actual creation event and start promptly.

Missing the deadline is serious. Under the Companies Act 2006, an unregistered charge is void as security against a liquidator, an administrator and the company's creditors. The debt itself does not go away, and the money it secured becomes payable straight away.

• A certified copy of the executed charge instrument, signed by the company. Every page, including schedules.
• The actual date and basis of creation: delivery of a deed, including delivery into escrow; execution by all essential parties for an immediately effective non-deed instrument; its effective date otherwise; or Scottish standard-security recording/registration. Provide the actual confirming facts and evidence, not just the printed or signature date. It cannot be in the future.
• The exact name of each person, security agent or trustee entitled to the charge. For more than four, provide at least four actual names and confirm the more-than-four statement.
• A short description of specified charged land, ship, aircraft or intellectual property. For several assets, describe at least one and refer to the instrument for the others. Enter None when there are no such specified assets.
• Whether the deed includes other fixed security beyond that property.
• Whether it contains a floating charge, and if so whether it covers all the company's property and undertaking.
• Whether the deed stops the company creating other security that ranks equally with or ahead of this charge (a negative pledge).
• Whether the company is acting as a trustee for the charged property.
• The name of the person authenticating the filing and their interest in the charge, such as the company, the lender or their solicitor.
• The company authentication code, so the filing can be made for the company.

The certified copy is shown on the public register. GOV.UK allows you to remove some details first: personal information about an individual (but not their name), bank or securities account numbers and similar identifiers, and signatures, including signature certificates.

Do not remove anything else. The rest of the deed must be complete. Tell us which redactions you have made when you upload the copy, so we can check them before filing.

Companies House charges £14 to register a charge online and £24 on paper. Online filing is also processed faster than post.

If you use SimpleFilings, you pay the £4.99 SimpleFilings service fee and the £14 Companies House fee. We tell you both amounts before you pay.

Once Companies House registers the charge, it gives the charge a unique reference code, known as the charge code. It also issues a certificate of registration to the person who delivered the filing. The certificate is conclusive evidence that the documents were delivered in time.

Until Companies House accepts the MR01 and issues that certificate, the charge is not on the register. Paying us, or getting a submission receipt, is not the same as registration. Keep the certificate with the loan papers.

1. Find your company, choose the actual charge route and upload the complete certified executed instrument, certification and creation-date evidence. Historic, late, acquisition, no-instrument or uncertain cases use separate review.
2. Answer the MR01 questions about the lender, the property charged and any floating charge.
3. We compare your answers with the deed and ask about anything missing or unclear, such as a creation date that does not match.
4. You approve the MR01 before it is submitted. The £14 Companies House fee is included in the total price.

If the company acquires property or an undertaking already subject to an instrument-backed charge, use MR02 rather than MR01. Choose the acquisition review route and provide the complete MR02, certified original charge instrument, separate original creation and actual acquisition dates, acquisition evidence and redaction details. The original charge may predate the acquiring company. MR02 has no specified delivery period; the MR01 21-day rule does not apply. This acquisition request remains separate review, with ordinary payment blocked.

Charges created before 6 April 2013 used older forms, such as MG01, and different rules. A newly created MR01 charge outside its 21-day window needs a court order. These cases are reviewed before anything is filed, and some may not be something we can file for you.

See also: Mark a charge as paid with an MR04 · Release property from a charge with an MR05

• Counting the 21 days from the loan drawdown instead of the day after the deed was created.
• Uploading the unsigned draft, or a copy that is missing pages or schedules.
• Redacting more than GOV.UK allows, such as the lender's name.
• Ticking 'no floating charge' for a debenture that contains one.
• Filing a charge the lender's solicitor has already registered.
• Using MR01 for property the company bought already charged. That is MR02.