Service Address vs Residential Address at Companies House

A director’s service address is public and used for correspondence. Their usual residential address states where they live and is normally held by Companies House on a private register. Every appointed director provides both.

The same location can fill both roles, but publication follows the field. If you use your home as the service address, the home becomes public. It can also appear because the company uses it as its registered office or because it was included in a historic filing.

What each director address is for

Service address: visible to the public

The service address appears on the director’s Companies House record. It can be found through the free worldwide search and copied into search engines, data products and third-party company-information services.

It might be:

• the company’s registered office;
• another business address;
• an address-provider or professional adviser’s address; or
• the director’s home.

The director needs permission to use the location and a reliable way to receive correspondence. An address controlled entirely by the person who proposed the appointment is a poor privacy solution if official letters never reach the director.

Privacy must not prevent information access. A director has to exercise independent judgement and reasonable care, skill and diligence. An arrangement designed to screen all official mail away from the registered director is a reason to pause.

Residential address: normally off the public register

The usual residential address identifies where the director lives. Companies House requires it but normally holds it on a private register.

“Private” is not the same as inaccessible to every authorised recipient. Companies House guidance says residential addresses can be disclosed under legal rules to specified public authorities, such as the police, and to credit reference agencies. In qualifying serious-risk cases, a protection application may restrict disclosure to credit reference agencies.

Using a service address does not remove the requirement to provide and maintain the correct home address privately. It keeps the two functions separate.

Registered office is different from both

The registered office is the company’s official public address. It must satisfy the appropriate-address rules and be in the same UK jurisdiction in which the company is registered.

It does not automatically become the director’s service address, although the same location may be used for both. The usual outcomes are:

• Home supplied only as the residential address: normally private.
• Home used as the director’s service address: public.
• Home used as the company’s registered office: public.
• Business address used for both service address and registered office: public in both capacities.

Changing one field does not necessarily change another. Check the officer profile, registered-office entry and relevant filing images when assessing exposure.

A business address does not make the director anonymous

An appropriate business or provider address can keep the home off the current officer profile. It does not hide the director’s identity. Companies House still generally publishes the person’s name, nationality, month and year of birth, company, appointment dates and service address.

Read the overview of director information on the public record before deciding whether the appointment’s total visibility is acceptable.

Companies House cannot control copies held by third parties. If a source record changes, commercial databases and search engines may update later or require a separate request. Those organisations are responsible for their own data-protection compliance.

Test the proposed service address

Before allowing anyone to file an appointment, establish:

• who owns or controls the proposed address;
• whether you have written permission to use it;
• how and when post will be scanned, forwarded or collected;
• whether another party can filter or withhold correspondence;
• what happens if the address service ends;
• whether mail continues after resignation;
• which privacy terms and charges apply; and
• whether your home is proposed for another public company field.

Verify the actual provider. An organiser’s use of “secure”, “confidential” or “private” does not prove the service’s controls or reliability. No external rule establishes that a particular provider used by this site handles correspondence safely.

The address should give the director direct, timely access to relevant mail and a clear transition route. If those conditions are missing, withhold consent while the arrangement is checked.

How a home address becomes public

The residential address normally stays private only when entered in the correct private field. A home may become visible if it is:

• deliberately used as the service address;
• used as the registered office or an inspection location;
• put in the public section of a form;
• included in another public document or charge; or
• copied while it was publicly available.

Inspect the live officer page and filing history after appointment. If the home appears, identify the capacity in which it was filed. A residential address exposed from the wrong field requires a different response from a home knowingly used as the current registered office.

Change the current service address prospectively

A serving director can use the applicable Companies House process to change the service address. Ask the company or authorised presenter for evidence of submission, then confirm the live officer record displays the replacement.

Keep:

• the old and replacement addresses;
• evidence that you may use the replacement;
• the change request and submission record;
• Companies House acceptance; and
• mail-forwarding arrangements during the transition.

The change updates the current record. It does not automatically rewrite the appointment form or other historic images. If another website continues displaying the old address after Companies House updates, contact that operator about the copy it controls.

If you have resigned, assess the officer status separately from the address. A former-director entry normally remains visible even after the current address changes. The guide to a resigned director still appearing on Companies House distinguishes ordinary history from an active status or wrong end date that needs a filing check.

Keep mail forwarding in place during the transition where possible. An official notice sent to the former service address may still matter, and a gap in access can make it harder to establish what correspondence reached you and when.

Historic documents need a separate removal check

Companies House offers a document-specific application where a home was used as a service or correspondence address, or in certain cases as a registered office. The individual identifies each affected document and pays the applicable fee for each one.

Current conditions include:

• a serving officer normally supplies a replacement address;
• an active company must first change a home that remains its current registered office;
• where a dissolved company used the home as its registered office, the applicant generally waits six months after dissolution;
• some uses, including an address that is the subject of a mortgage charge, cannot be removed through this process; and
• the application does not remove the director’s name or appointment history.

In some former-officer or dissolved-company cases, Companies House hides part of the address rather than replacing it. Follow the current personal-details removal guidance for the exact document and company status. One application does not automatically cover every filing.

The same guidance describes separate applications for certain signatures, the day of a birth date in documents filed before 10 October 2015 and a business occupation where it was required. Those categories do not create a general right to delete company information.

Serious-risk protection has a specific purpose

Residential addresses are already normally withheld from the general public. A separate protection route can prevent disclosure to credit reference agencies if the director, or someone living with them, faces a serious risk of violence or intimidation because of the company’s activities.

Companies House assesses the application and may require evidence. Specified public authorities can still request the information.

Only qualifying people with significant control can seek protection of all their PSC information. That broader PSC measure does not make every director anonymous. If there is an immediate threat, contact the police or appropriate emergency service; a registry application is not emergency safeguarding.

Use the remedy that matches the record

Companies House explains that statutory-register exemptions limit certain UK GDPR rights to erasure and rectification. A general “right to be forgotten” request does not automatically remove a lawful address filing or appointment.

Match the action to the issue:

1. Change the current service address for future display.
2. Change a current registered office before applying for removal where required.
3. Apply document by document for an eligible historic home address.
4. Seek serious-risk protection only where the criteria are met.
5. Challenge inaccurate or unauthorised information through the appropriate process.
6. Contact third parties separately about copies they hold.

These routes have different requirements and outcomes. None guarantees immediate disappearance from every website.

Two illustrative choices

Possible to continue: Imani has written permission to use a professional address and receives correspondence directly through a documented forwarding process. The company will use a separate registered office. Imani understands that the directorship remains public and continues the wider checks.

Pause: Ben is told that an organiser’s address makes him anonymous, but the organiser will not forward mail or provide terms. Ben’s home is also placed in the registered-office field “temporarily”. Ben should not consent until access, permissions and the public filings are corrected.

These are illustrative examples, not actual applicant accounts or endorsements.

Decide before anyone submits the filing

Answer yes, no or not sure:

• Do I know the exact public service address?
• Do I have permission to use it and direct access to correspondence?
• Is my home proposed for the registered office or another public field?
• Have I checked existing filings for the address?
• Do I understand that a current change leaves historic documents untouched?
• Has anyone guaranteed anonymity, suppression or instant deletion?

If any answer is “not sure”, pause. Check the proposed company’s live record and current Companies House guidance. For an already published address, disputed filing or serious safety concern, obtain independent legal or data-protection advice about the correct route.