Directors residential addresses must be notified to the Registrar of Companies and are held on public record at Companies House, as well on the Register of Directors of every company. The register at Companies House is publicly available information and directors must make this information available unless they obtain a confidentiality order, for example where there is a threat of violence or intimidation as may be the case if the company is involved in politically sensitive activities.
From 1 October 2009 changes made under the Companies Act 2006, will allow individual directors to provide a service address which will be available on the public record, rather than their residential address. A directors residential address will still be required but this will be held on a separate register of residential addresses to which access will be restricted. Directors may give any address for service including the company's registered office. If they continue to use their residential address as their address for service the register will not make clear that that is their home address.
Companies will need to keep three registers - a register of directors residential addresses, a register of directors and a register of secretaries (if they have a secretary). A director may have two addresses, a service address for the public record and a residential address which will be held by the company and the Registrar of Companies and which need only be disclosed in certain limited circumstances. Transitional arrangements provide that the directors addresses contained in the register of directors before the new provisions come into force will be treated as their service addresses.
Directors who wish to take advantage of the ability to keep their residential addresses confidential should notify the company of a service address to be included in the Register of Directors. This change must be notified to the Registrar of Companies using form CH01. A new register of directors residential addresses must be established.
If you would like further advice on the new provisions regarding the Register of Directors please contact Catherine Feechan or Euan Tripp.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
