Registered office vs service address vs business address

A UK company can have three different addresses, and they're easy to mix up. In short: your registered office is the company's official address, a service address is a director's official contact address, and a business address is where you actually trade. Here's how they differ, which ones are public, and when you'd use each.

What is a registered office address?

It's your company's official address on the public Companies House register, where Companies House and HMRC send statutory post. Every UK company must have one, it's public, and it must be an appropriate address in the same UK jurisdiction your company is registered in (gov.uk).

Think of it as the company's legal letterbox. Reminders to file your accounts, your confirmation statement, tax notices: they all go here. The address is tied to the company, not to you as a person, and it stays the same even if directors come and go.

Two rules trip people up. First, the jurisdiction lock: a company registered in England and Wales must keep its registered office in England and Wales, and the same goes for Scotland and Northern Ireland. You can't use an overseas address. Second, since 4 March 2024 it must be an "appropriate address": somewhere a letter would actually reach a real person, and where delivery can be acknowledged. A PO box on its own no longer counts (gov.uk).

For a fuller walk-through, see what a registered office address is.

What is a service address?

A service address is the official contact address for an individual connected to the company, such as a director, secretary, or person with significant control (PSC). It's public too. The important part: it lets you keep your residential address private, because Companies House protects directors' home addresses and only shows the service address (gov.uk).

Here's the difference that matters. The registered office belongs to the company. The service address belongs to a person. Each director and PSC has their own, and it's the address where official mail meant for them as an individual is sent.

Companies House holds two addresses for a director: a service address, which is public, and a residential address, which is protected and not shown on the open register. Use your home for both and your home address becomes searchable by anyone. Use a service address and only that appears. That's the whole point of it.

What is a business (trading) address?

A business or trading address is simply where you actually run the business and receive day-to-day post from customers, suppliers, and banks. It isn't a statutory Companies House concept, so it doesn't have to be public, and it can be different from your registered office. Many founders use a professional business address on their website and invoices instead of their home.

Because it isn't defined in company law, there are no jurisdiction rules and no public-register requirement. It's the practical address: the one on your contact page, your invoices, your couriers' labels, the one a supplier saves to send you a contract.

You choose whether to show it. Publish it on your website and it's public because you put it there, not because the law made it so.

Registered office vs service address vs business address

Which addresses are public?

Two of the three. Your registered office and your service address both appear on the public Companies House register, so anyone can look them up. Your residential address is protected and isn't shown. A separate business address is only public if you choose to publish it (gov.uk).

This is the question most first-time founders are really asking. They don't mind the company being on the register, since that's normal and expected. What they don't want is their home address sitting there for customers, suppliers, or strangers to find. A service address solves exactly that.

When would you want each address?

You'd want a separate registered office and service address mainly to keep your home off the public record, and a separate business address when the place you trade from differs from where you want official post to land. The right mix depends on how and where you actually work (gov.uk).

A couple of real situations make it concrete.

A director who works from home

Say you run a consultancy from your spare room. You can use your home as the registered office and service address, but it then appears on the public register, and you can't easily remove it later. Most founders in this position use a service address instead, so the company is properly registered but their home stays private. If you've already filed your home address, you can change your registered office address later, though the historic filing may remain visible.

An online seller needing a trading address

Now say you sell online and ship from a small unit, but you'd rather not print that unit on every invoice and listing. You might keep one professional address as your registered office and service address, and use it as your public business address too, while goods still move through the unit behind the scenes. The address customers see and the address you physically operate from don't have to be the same.

Wondering whether a virtual address is accepted by the tax office? See whether HMRC accepts a virtual office address.

Can one address do all three?

Yes — and that's the practical bit. A single registered office service can act as your registered office, your service address, and your business/trading address at the same time. That keeps your home address off the public record entirely and gives you one professional address everywhere.

It's the simplest setup for most founders: one address, on the register, on your invoices, and on your website. At MVOS, that's a single Belgravia address at 20 Grosvenor Place doing all three jobs at once. Our registered office service provides exactly that, and our wider virtual office and business address covers the day-to-day trading side as well.

Remember it's a separate cost from the one-off Companies House charge. The £100 online incorporation fee (since 1 February 2026) is the government's fee to register the company itself (gov.uk). An address service is a separate, ongoing thing.

The short version

Three addresses, three jobs. The registered office is the company's official address and it's public. The service address is a person's official contact and it's public, while their home address stays protected. The business address is where you actually trade, and it's only public if you publish it. One address can cover all three, which is why so many founders use a single service rather than scattering their details across the register.

New to all this? Start with what a registered office address is, weigh up whether you can use your home as your registered office, or get the lot sorted when you form your company.