Home Address on the Companies House Register: What GOV.UK Says

This guide is about the UK Companies House register only. GOV.UK says Companies House makes certain information about a registered company available to the public, and that the register can be searched online free of charge.

What the register shows about a director

GOV.UK says some of a director’s details are made public, including name, nationality, and, for directors appointed after 10 October 2015, the month and year of birth. A director gives Companies House two addresses on appointment, a service address and a usual residential address. The page says the home address is kept on a private register and is only provided to credit reference agencies and specified public authorities, such as the police.

A company secretary does not have to give a home address, but does give a service address, which the page says is available to the public. For a person with significant control (PSC), the page says: “Most PSC information is available to the public, apart from their home address and full date of birth.”

Where a home address can still end up public

The page says the correspondence (service) address, the company’s registered office and the single alternative inspection location (SAIL) are made available to the public. Its advice is to choose a different address for those if you do not want your home address to be publicly available, and it says Companies House cannot protect those addresses even if they are sensitive.

For a registered office, the page points to a list of service providers and says all providers of registered office services charge a fee; it adds that if you decide to use one, it is important to have this in place before you incorporate.

Removing an address that is already on the register

GOV.UK says a person can apply to remove a home address that was used as a service (‘correspondence’) address or as the company’s registered office. For a registered office of an active company, the registered office has to be changed before applying; for a dissolved company, the page says to wait 6 months. For someone holding an active position whose current address is being removed, the page says a replacement address is needed.

The form for individuals is SR01. It can also be used to remove a signature from certain documents, a business occupation where providing it was a requirement, and the day of a date of birth if it was given on a document filed before 10 October 2015, according to the removal guidance. The SR01 page says it costs £34 for each document listed in the application, paid through GOV.UK Pay before sending, with the payment reference sent along with the form.

The SR01 page says the application can be emailed to [email protected], which it calls the quickest way, or posted with a cheque or postal order, which it says usually takes longer. If an application is accepted, Companies House says it will remove the personal details from the documents listed. It also says it hides part of an address if the person is no longer an officer, the company has been dissolved, or the address was previously a registered office; for a UK address it shows only the first half of the post code.

The register guidance has a section headed ‘Addresses we cannot remove’, which lists a home address used as: an address that is the subject of a mortgage charge; a company’s name, such as a flat management company; and a current registered office address, which it says has to be changed before applying.

Protection from credit reference agencies

A different route is protection. GOV.UK says it is for a director, limited liability partnership (LLP) member or PSC who, or whose household member, is at serious risk of violence or intimidation because of the company’s or LLP’s activities. Its examples include being targeted by activists, and it says the list is not complete. GOV.UK says protection means Companies House will not provide the home address to credit reference agencies; the page says police and other specified public authorities can still request it.

The page says it costs £100 to apply to protect a home address. It says an abbreviated application costs £15 if home address protection is already in place, but that existing protection can only apply to the same type of corporate body (a company or an LLP). It says applications are made by post, with a cheque or postal order, on a paper form; the page says to request one, and that its secure registers team will send the correct forms. It also says a home address that is the company’s registered office cannot be protected.

On timing, the page says it takes at least 30 days to process an application and complex ones can take up to a year, and that information is protected while the application is processed.

What these routes do not cover

Companies House says the public register is open to anyone, so it cannot stop third parties from finding and using the information. It says other organisations have the right to make copies, and that for concerns about company data on third-party websites it says to contact the organisation directly.

The page also says Companies House does not have to comply with UK GDPR requests for erasure or rectification, because it relies on an exemption in the Data Protection Act 2018. On retention, it says officer information, including details of all resigned officers, stays on the register for the life of the company and, for a dissolved company, for 20 years. It says that after 20 years there is an agreement to transfer a selection of dissolved company records to The National Archives, and that records transferred there can be requested by the public. It also says Companies House is reviewing the retention period for dissolved company records and has paused the destruction and transfer of records during the review.

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Common questions

Does Companies House publish a director’s home address?

GOV.UK says a director’s home address is kept on a private register and only provided to credit reference agencies and specified public authorities such as the police. The service address, registered office and single alternative inspection location (SAIL) are made available to the public.

What does it cost to apply to remove a home address from a filed document?

The SR01 page says it costs £34 for each document listed in the application.

What if my home is the company’s registered office?

GOV.UK says that for an active company the registered office has to be changed before applying to remove it, and that a home address that is the registered office cannot be protected from credit reference agencies.

What does the £100 application to protect a home address do?

GOV.UK says that if protection is granted, Companies House will not provide the home address to credit reference agencies, while police and other specified public authorities can still request it. It is for people at serious risk of violence or intimidation because of the company’s or limited liability partnership’s (LLP’s) activities.

Can I ask Companies House to erase my details under UK GDPR?

The page says Companies House does not have to comply with UK GDPR requests for erasure or rectification, because it relies on an exemption in the Data Protection Act 2018.

Sources

Last reviewed against these sources on 2026-10-27.