Service and registered addresses

Recent changes to company law have had a knock-on effect on the rules on serving documents at a company’s registered address at the start of, or during, court proceedings. These changes bring into focus the need for company directors and counsel who are involved in litigation, to make sure they are taking a sensible and careful approach to checking addresses for service.  

The rules around service of documents in the Civil Procedure Rules are important and enforced strictly by the courts. If a party fails to serve documents in accordance with the rules the consequences could be significant. In a worst case, but not uncommon, scenario, if a party fails to properly serve a document by a date set by a court order or rule during litigation, that party’s claim or defence could be struck out, leading to judgment being entered and a costs order being made against them. Alternatively, a prospective claimant might make a mistake with service and fail to serve properly before a limitation date, which could leave them unable to ever pursue their claim. Even in less drastic situations, any party who fails to serve documents properly may waste their own time, and incur significant legal costs, having to repeat an attempt to serve. It is therefore very important that company directors, lawyers and any parties to court proceedings ensure that they understand and follow the rules around service.

A company registered in England and Wales may be served with documents at its registered address. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 came into force in March 2024 and, together with related regulations, made changes to company law around registered office addresses, which may impact parties who want to serve documents on companies. These changes include:

• The Registrar of Companies may change the registered addresses relating to a company, for example, if the Registrar is satisfied that the address does not meet the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, or if the Registrar is satisfied that the address is not in fact the relevant person’s principal office;
• New rules mean that all companies must have an appropriate address and may not use a PO Box as their registered office address; and
• All companies must supply a registered email address.

The fact that the Registrar can change a company’s registered address must be borne in mind by a party who wishes to effect service on a limited company, as this increases the likelihood of a company’s address changing without notice. It is sensible for parties who want to serve on a company to check the registered address immediately before effecting service. This can be done through a simple, fast and free check online at Companies House. Because this is a straightforward check, the courts may have little sympathy for a party who leaves a long gap between their final check of the registered address and service, and then finds that the registered address has changed in the interim.

The final two points above are less relevant to the strict rules around service but can provide directors with some reassurance that legal documents are more likely to come to an appropriate person’s attention when they are served on another company. However, directors involved in litigation should not allow the presence of a registered email address to give them a false sense of security when it comes to service. Parties to litigation can only be served electronically when they have expressly consented to it, just because a company has a registered email address, that does not mean that they can be served by email.

A key point for company directors to note is that the rules around service in litigation are very important but straightforward to comply with if a prudent approach is taken. These changes to company law mean that changes of registered address are more likely and so the best approach will always be to check the other party’s registered office address immediately before serving documents.