Director's Address at Companies House: How to Keep It Private

Your director's address at Companies House is public by default unless you actively set it up otherwise. Companies House publishes a surprising amount about every director on its free public register, and by default that can include a residential address. This guide covers exactly what goes public, how to stop your home address appearing in the first place, and what to do if it is already there.

What goes public at Companies House

When you form a company or become a director, several pieces of information become visible to anyone searching the register for free:

• Director's service address - this is shown publicly, but it does not have to be your home address (more on this below).
• Registered office address - the company's official address for legal correspondence, always public.
• PSC (person with significant control) details - name, nationality, and month/year of birth are public; a service address is shown for the PSC too.
• Director's full date of birth (month and year only) and nationality.
• Shareholding and filing history - who owns what, and every document the company has filed.

What is not shown publicly is a director's residential address, provided it has never been used as the service address or registered office by mistake.

Director's service address vs residential address

This is the distinction that matters most. Every director must give Companies House two addresses:

• A residential address, which is never displayed on the public register (with one narrow exception below).
• A service address, which is shown publicly and is where official correspondence relating to the directorship is sent.

The service address can legally be anywhere with the director's consent to receive post there, including a registered office address provided by a third party. Many overseas directors use a professional registered office as their service address specifically so their home address never needs to be disclosed anywhere on the public record.

The one exception: if a director does not separately specify a service address, Companies House will use the residential address as the service address by default, making it public. Always actively set a separate service address to avoid this.

Keeping your home address off the record from day one

For a new company, the steps are straightforward:

1. Use a proper UK registered office as the company's registered office address, rather than a director's home.

2. Set each director's service address to the same registered office (or another appropriate third-party address), never their home address.

3. Confirm the same approach for any PSC.

4. Keep this consistent through every future filing, including director and shareholder changes and each confirmation statement.

Since March 2024, a registered office must also meet an "appropriate address" test: it has to be a physical UK address where documents can be delivered and acknowledged, so a PO Box on its own no longer qualifies. A professional registered office such as ours at 167-169 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5PF, satisfies this requirement while keeping a director's home address entirely out of the picture.

If your home address is already public

Some directors only discover the issue after their home address has already appeared on the register, often because it was used as a service address early on or before they understood the distinction. There are two routes to fix this:

• Going forward - file the correct forms to change the service address to a proper third-party address (such as a registered office). This stops the home address being used from that point on, but does not remove what has already been published historically.
• Historic suppression - Companies House allows an application (commonly referred to by the old form reference SR01) to remove a residential address that appears in historical documents, where it was used as a service address before the rules changed or by mistake. This does not apply to every document type, and eligibility depends on when and how the address was used, so it is worth checking the specific filings involved before applying.

Suppressing an address already on the public record takes more effort than avoiding the problem in the first place, which is why getting the service address and registered office right at incorporation is the better starting point.

Why this matters for overseas owners

Getting your director's address at Companies House set up correctly matters most for overseas owners. For a director living outside the UK, having a home address searchable for free by anyone worldwide carries real risks: unsolicited contact, targeted scams referencing the address, or simply an unwanted level of exposure for a private residence. A UK registered office and service address solve this cleanly without needing a UK residence at all, and are one of the reasons overseas directors use our UK company formation service from the outset rather than retrofitting privacy protections later.

Common questions

Is a director's residential address ever public at Companies House?

Not normally. It is only shown if no separate service address was set, causing the residential address to be used by default.

Can I use a registered office as my service address?

Yes. A director's service address can be a professional registered office address, provided the company or provider consents to receiving correspondence there.

What is SR01 and does it still apply?

SR01 was the historic form reference for applications to suppress a residential address from the public register. The underlying mechanism to apply for suppression of historically published addresses still exists at Companies House, though eligibility depends on the specific documents involved.

Does a PSC's address also stay private?

A PSC's residential address is not displayed publicly, but their service address is, in the same way as a director's.

Can I change my service address after incorporation?

Yes, at any time, by filing the appropriate change with Companies House. It is worth doing this promptly if a home address is currently in use.

Get started

If you want your home address kept off the public register from the outset, start an enquiry on our contact page. A named UK-based specialist will reply within one working day and set up your registered office and service address correctly from the start.