I have been asked by several clients if they could use my business address as their registered office address.
I have always been a little dubious as to whether this is a good or bad idea as a friend who has been in practice for years has always said no to her clients.
I have also noticed that some people charge their clients if they want this service, so it could be an income stream too.
Does anybody have any views on this?
Ben
-- Edited by woody88 on Thursday 24th of May 2012 12:05:14 PM
I've also heard of, and read of lots of bookkeepers and accountants being against this. Personally I don't see an issue,and as you say it opens a new income stream.
The accountant that I know said they do not offer the service beacuse if the client goes bust then you get lots of threatening letters. I don't see this as an issue as they are not addressed to me personally and I would just forward them to the client.
A possible issue is whether my office address or home could be black listed, this would not be good.
Surely if credit rating is an issue serviced offices wouldn't exist, not would anyone take over a premises previously occupied by a company who went bust. I always thought credit ratings were determined by the person or company and address was just a way of identifying the person. I may be wromg.
Another advantage is that you (a) get the reminders for annual returns and statutory accounts (in case you've forgetten them!) and (b) if you lose CoHouse ID numbers you can get the sent straight to you.
I offer my business address as a registered office to clients and charge them £100 per year for this and other company secretarial work ie doing the annual return and filing other information at Companies House.
Upside is that it is an income stream and you get all relevant correspodence from Companies House and HMRC that would be sent to the reg office directly to you. So you can act on it rather than chase the client up.
Downside is if the company goes bust is that you can getting a lot more than threatening letters to your door. Though if you do then all you need to say is that you act for the client as accountant and direct the relevant person to the director.
I know of a local letting company that went bust and the owners had their registered office as their home address. They then moved address and the new owner of their old home continually had people at his door in a threatening and aggresive manner looking for their money. (as they hadnt changed the registered office)
That shows the example that if you work from home then you shouldnt use your home address as the registered office for other companies but only offer the service if you have business premises.
They then moved address and the new owner of their old home continually had people at his door in a threatening and aggresive manner looking for their money.
Or complain to the police and have them charged for a breach of the peace (S5 POA to all you peep in England and Wales)
my husbands business is registered under our accountant on companies house we purely do this because we work from home, we want to maintain our home address private. Also because my husband deals with a lot of domestic ( and changes the locks) there are a lot of angry ex husbands out there, he has also done warrants and bailiff work. On that basis thats why we do it.
