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I'm going through the process on the Companies House website to create a UK company (at http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/promo/webincs/) and I've got to the page asking for "Details of new director", "Director's service address", and "Director's residential address". It won't let you select both of the following:

  • The service address is 'same as' the company's registered office
  • The residential address is 'same as' the service address

However, either one on their own is fine. Why is this? Basically they're saying the director's official service address can be the same as the company's registered office, and the company's registered office can be the same as the director's residential address, but all 3 can't be the same at once. Surely if the director's residential address is the same as the registered office, it's a fair bet that that would be the best place to get hold of him with the service address? Why would they wish to prohibit this?

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Ask Companies House directly. They take phone calls (I've called them before for questions like this). – Henry the Hengineer Nov 26 '12 at 23:43

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It is quite new and it is to protect the privacy of Directors, so the service address is public, but the residential address is confidential. If they are the same, it really defeats the purpose. The registered address is not related and can be the same or different.

For a small home-based business the registered address and the Director's address will be the same. For a more substantial business, the registered address and Director's service address will be the office, while the Director's residential address is kept confidential, but Companies House can still serve papers on you there if the company goes away. You may elect that your registered address is your accountant's address, but this is optional (in fact, having an accountant is optional, but that's another story).

As an aside, don't pay anyone for "prestigious" registered address "service", as it is a scam and only useful if you are homeless or travelling overseas without a base at home.

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What if you don't have more than one address - you're a sole practitioner? I'm not really interested in having my actual address be "private" - they're basically forcing me to put down some second address. It seems ridiculous. – Jez Nov 27 '12 at 9:13
No, I mean just fill in the service address. – Steve Jones Nov 27 '12 at 9:26
So you mean actually make all 3 addresses the same, but fill it out twice (once for registered office, once for service address)? – Jez Nov 27 '12 at 9:27
Yeah, you only need one address, as I did a new Ltd a few weeks ago. – Steve Jones Nov 27 '12 at 9:29

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