New regulations were introduced in March 2024 to ensure that all entities have an ‘appropriate address’ as their registered office. Companies House consider an appropriate address to be one where:
- any documents sent to the registered office should be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company; and
- any documents sent to that address can be recorded by an acknowledgement of delivery.
These requirements mean companies will not be able to use a PO Box as a registered office address, but a third-party agent’s address can be used if they meet the conditions for an appropriate address. It’s important to note that companies that do not have an appropriate registered office address could be struck off the register and will have 28 days to advise they are complying with the new rules.