Change your registered office address online (AD01)

Find your company, enter the new address and confirm that the address is appropriate. We check the address is complete, is in the same part of the UK the company was registered in, and that you have confirmed the appropriate-address statement. We ask about anything missing. You approve the details, then the change is submitted.

You need the company authentication code. If you cannot get post at the current registered office, Companies House lets you ask for the code to be sent to your home address instead.

The register changes only when Companies House accepts and registers the change. Payment or a submission receipt is not the same as acceptance, so check the register once the change has gone through.

• The new address is a physical address in the same part of the UK the company was registered in: England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland.
• Someone acting for the company will be made aware of post delivered there, and a sender can get confirmation of delivery.
• It is not a Royal Mail PO Box or a similar service from another company.
• You have permission to use the address. If it belongs to an accountant, solicitor or other provider, get their agreement first and check it meets every rule.
• You are happy for the address to be public. A home address used as a registered office appears on the public register.
• You have the company authentication code and you are authorised to make the change.

Since 4 March 2024, every registered office must be an ‘appropriate address’: post must reach someone acting for the company, and a sender must be able to get proof of delivery. A PO Box does not qualify, and the AD01 itself includes a statement that the new address is appropriate.

The address must also stay in the part of the UK where the company was registered. A company moving to another part of the UK has to re-incorporate, which is not a change of address. Our guides cover the full rules, the privacy trade-off of using a home address, and who else to tell.

See also: Registered office address rules and who else to tell · Can I use my home address as a registered office?

GOV.UK says you must tell Companies House within 14 days of the change taking place. Companies House does not publish a fixed processing time for this change.

Legally, the change takes effect when Companies House registers it. For 14 days beginning on the date it is registered, people can still validly serve documents on the company at the old address. Keep checking post at the old address during that time, or arrange for it to be passed on.

For keeping registers available for inspection and showing the address on company documents, a company may act on the new address from a date it chooses, no more than 14 days after the notice is given.

Companies House says it will tell HMRC about the new registered office. If your trading or correspondence address is also changing, HMRC's records for Corporation Tax, PAYE and VAT are updated separately, and VAT changes must be reported within 30 days.

Also update your website, letterheads, order forms and email footers, plus your bank, insurers, suppliers and customers. These are not updated by Companies House.

See also: change your business address with HMRC

• Using a PO Box, or a virtual address where no one confirms receipt of post.
• Choosing an address in the wrong part of the UK.
• Using a home address without realising it will be public.
• Using someone else's address without their permission.
• Stopping post checks at the old address before the 14-day period has ended.
• Assuming the change also updates the place where company records are kept. That is a separate filing (AD02 to AD04) and is not included here.

GOV.UK says a paper form is needed if the company has been moved to the Companies House default address, is in liquidation, is applying to be restored to the register, or is an unregistered company. Those cases are not part of this standard online change. You can also make the change yourself through the official Companies House service at no government cost.