Setting up
Should you use your home address for your limited company?
Should you use your home address for your limited company? You can, and it's free, but two of the three addresses Companies House asks for go on the public register.
Updated 24 Oct 2026 · 6 min read · By Rayhaan Moughal, Sidekick Accounting
Setting up a company asks you for three addresses, and people tend to treat them as one question. Each one has its own rules, and only one is protected.
The short answer: your home can be your usual residential address (that one stays off the public register), but we'd use something else for the registered office and your director service address.
The three addresses Companies House asks for
This is where each one ends up.
The three addresses on a new company
| Public? | Can be your home? | What we'd use | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered office | ✓Yes | Yes, if appropriate and permitted | A registered office service or your accountant's address |
| Director service address | ✓Yes | Yes, but it goes public | The registered office, or a business address |
| Usual residential address | ✗No | Yes, it's where you live | Your home |
The registered office is where official post for the company goes, and it has to be an "appropriate" address. The GOV.UK guidance on your personal information says it's public, and that if you run the company from home you can use a registered office service provider instead.
The service address is the one Companies House shows for you as a director. It can be the registered office or any other address that can receive post for you. Our guide to the director service address goes through it.
Your usual residential address is kept on a private register. Companies House shares it only with credit reference agencies and specified public authorities such as the police.
Should you use your home address for your limited company? The honest trade-offs
Neither option is wrong. It depends on how much the public record matters to you.
Using your home
- Free
- Simplest setup, nothing to arrange
- Post arrives where you live
- Your address is public from day one
- Shows on the company's page, in searches and on data sites
Using a service or your accountant
- Keeps your home off the public register
- Someone has to receive and forward the post
- A recurring cost
- Official letters can be delayed if forwarding is slow
- Easy to change later if you move
| Option | Good | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Your home | Free, no setup, post arrives at your door | Public forever in the filings you make |
| Registered office service | Separate address, privacy kept | Ongoing fee, check how post is handled |
| Your accountant's address | Often bundled, they see the HMRC post | They may charge, and you'd update it if you switch accountant |
On mail handling, ask any provider what they do with official post and how quickly. Companies House, HMRC and the courts all send mail to the registered office, and missing a letter can cost you a penalty or a county court judgment.
We've written more about what to check in our guide to registered office address services.
Mortgage, lease and insurance: check first
Some mortgages and tenancy agreements restrict running a business from the property, and a registered office at home can count. Home insurance can have similar conditions.
We can't tell you what your documents say. Check with your lender, landlord and insurer before you use the address, because it's cheaper to ask first than to unwind it later.
What we'd do if you're setting up now
Which address goes where?
Are you happy for your home address to be searchable by anyone?
Yes: Using your home as the registered office is an option. Check your mortgage or lease first.
No: Use a registered office service or your accountant's address.
Will you use the registered office as your director service address too?
Yes: Good. One public address, and it isn't your home.
No: Pick a business address you can receive post at. Not your home.
Is your home the address you give as your usual residential address?
Yes: That's the protected one, so keep it as your home.
No: Give the address where you actually live.
What we'd do is use a separate address for the registered office, use that same address as the director service address, and keep home as the protected residential address. It's the cheapest way to get all three jobs done without your home going on the public register.
If you're contracting or running a small company from the spare room, our guide for contractors and home addresses covers the common setup.
You already used your home address: it can be changed
Plenty of people do this and find out later. It's fixable in two parts.
- Change the addresses going forward. Move the registered office and your service address to something that isn't your home, so new filings are clean. A live company's current registered office can't be removed from the register until it has been changed.
- Clean up the old filings. Apply to remove your home address from the documents already on the register, using form SR01. It's £34 per document, paid through GOV.UK Pay, and our guides on the SR01 form and how to complete it walk through it.
If you want to see where your address shows up first, you can run the free scan and we'll list the filings. We can set up a registered office and service address for you as part of your application. See how it works on our page about how to remove your home address from Companies House.
Questions
Can I use my home address as my registered office?
Yes, as long as it's an appropriate address in the country where the company is registered and you have permission to use it. The catch is that the registered office is public, so your home address goes on the register for anyone to see.
Is my home address public if I'm a company director?
Your usual residential address is given to Companies House but kept on a private register, so it isn't shown to the public. It only becomes public if you use it as your director service address or as the registered office.
Can I change my registered office address later?
Yes. You can change the registered office with Companies House whenever you like, and the new address applies from then on. The old address stays in the documents already filed, which is where an SR01 application comes in.
Do I have to tell my mortgage lender or landlord if I register a company at home?
Some mortgage and tenancy agreements restrict business use of the property. We can't tell you what yours says, so check with your lender or landlord before you use the address for the company.
I already used my home address. Can I fix it?
Yes. Change the registered office and your service address so new filings are clean, then apply to remove your home address from the old documents using form SR01 at £34 per document. A live company's current registered office can't be removed until it has been changed.
Sources
- Your personal information on the Companies House register (GOV.UK)
- Apply to remove your home address from the public register: SR01 (GOV.UK)