Companies House is watering down registration rules to allow directors to remove some residential addresses from the register for as little as £30.

From 27 January 2025, for the first time directors will be able to apply to suppress a residential address that has been used as the company’s registered office address.

If the residential address is the company’s current registered office address, it will have to be changed before applying for suppression of the home address. The fee will be £30 for each document.

While operating companies will be able to hide their addresses from public view, if the company is dissolved or the person is no longer acting as a director, then the first part of the post code of the residential address will remain on the register even after paying to have it removed.

This measure, an update to section 1088 Companies Act 2006, and Regulation 9, is likely to reduce transparency if it is taken up widely, but there is an inbuilt protection with the requirement for full disclosure of addresses for companies that have gone bust.

Addresses can only be changed by a company officer/director, a person with significant control (PSC), a member of the company, or a permanent representative of the company.

Most information on Companies House is available to the public, and is an important way for investigations to be conducted, although the police and HMRC can obtain any information they need regardless of data being withheld.

It is already possible to ‘protect your details’ on the register for a fee of £100, as well as having a reasonable excuse, such as the company has ‘been targeted by activists’, such as companies involved in the defence industry and targets of animal rights activists.

The updated SR01 form does not ask for a reason for removal of the private address, but does require details of a new registered office. However, the address cannot be removed if it is classed as the ‘registered office’ of the company, even if it is a private address.

Non-UK residents will not be able to remove the state or province, or the country, of their residential address, although a registered address of the office must be supplied if the company is insolvent or in liquidation.

Applications can be made online or by post.

Other measures to improve transparency and change company reporting requirements have been introduced in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, with a timetable for rollout throughout 2025.