Address services FAQs

General Address FAQs

How should the address be written?

The address for your company should be written as follows:
[Name of Your Company]
27 Old Gloucester Street
London
WC1N 3AX
United Kingdom

How do I change the mail forwarding address?

You will specify an address for mail to be forwarded to when you set up the service. However, you can change this at any time by sending us an email with your new details. You may also elect for your mail to be recycled (without being physically forwarded on). In this case you will only receive the mail electronically.

What is the digital mailroom?

Our digital mailroom is a secure portal where we will upload your scanned mail. The benefits of this service:

  • All your historical mail in one place.
  • More secure than email.
  • Multiple authorised users.
How do I access the digital mailroom?

You can login to the digital mailroom by visiting https://portal.elementalcosec.com/

How often do you forward mail?

The mail is scanned and then forwarded to your specified physical address, generally on the same (working) day it is received.

How long is the contract?

All of our mail contracts are on a yearly basis.

When and how do I pay?

Payment for the full year is taken in advance and you can pay by bank transfer, PayPal or by card.

What happens at the end of the year?

Prior to the end of the year, we will send you an invoice for the next year’s service. In order to renew, you merely need to pay the invoice prior to the end of the year.

What if I want to cancel?

You can cancel at any time, although you will not receive a refund for any pre-paid amounts.

Can I collect the mail in person?

No. In order to provide the service at these prices, we have to keep our systems as streamlined as possible. This means that we must forward all mail when received.

How long have you been operating from the address?

Although in different guises, the mail forwarding business has been operating from this address for over 80 years.

Will you still be operating next year?

Elemental has been established for over 10 years and our mail forwarding partner has been operating from the address for 80 years. We manage the mail for clients including banks, law firms, and even parts of the UK government.

What information do you need to set up the service?

We need certain information about the company and how you would like the mail handled. We also need to collect certain identification information on the beneficial owners as required by law. All of the details are set out in our registration form which can be found here.

How long does it take to set up?

Once we have all the required information and payment has been made, the service can start immediately.

Do you provide telephone services or hire of meeting rooms?

No.

Do you accept service of legal proceedings?

Yes, though this is part of our process agent service.

How do I sign up?

Simply complete our address service registration form that you can find here. Alternatively, please contact us and we can take your details manually.

Registered Office and Registered Office Plus

What is a registered office?

A registered office is the official address for a UK company or partnership. It must be a physical address in the UK (it cannot be a PO Box) and it is a place for the company to receive official mail and it must be registered at Companies House.

What mail will be handled?

The registered office service covers the handling of all statutory mail, but not other mail.

What is statutory mail?

We define statutory mail as mail from HM Revenue & Customs and Companies House.

What happens to other mail sent to the registered office?

Promotional or ‘spam’ mail will be destroyed. As a general rule, if a small amount of business mail is received we will still forward it on, although we reserve the right not to. If a significant amount of non-statutory mail is received, we will contact you about upgrading your service. If you think you are likely to receive important non-statutory mail we would recommend using the “Business Address” service.

Can I use the address on my website/letterhead etc?

A company is required to specify its registered office in certain circumstance, such as on invoices and letters. You can do this with our service, but it is up to you to ensure that customers send correspondence or business mail to your trading address and not to the registered office.

Can I upgrade to the Business Address service later?

Yes, you can upgrade at any time.

I want to use the registered office to form a brand new company. Can I do this?

Of course. You will need to sign up for the registered office service and on the form there is an option to select that the company has not yet been formed. Once the sign up process is complete you can form the company.

Alternatively, you can form the company through Elemental CoSec and we will deal with everything. Please see here for our incorporation services.

Can I use the address as a director's service address?

Yes you can. Two service addresses are included in the Registered Office Plus service for no extra charge.

Do you charge for postage or handling?

No, not for the registered office service or registered office plus.

Are there extra fees for forwarding mail overseas?

No, our registered office service includes the forwarding of statutory mail to anywhere in the world.

Service address questions

What is a director’s service address and how does it work?

Companies House require all directors and persons of significant control (PSC) to provide an address to include on the public record where they can be contacted. This does not need to be their residential address and therefore they can use our address instead.

Do I still need to provide Companies House with my residential address?

Yes. Companies House do need to be provided with the residential address of every director and PSC, but it is not public information.

What if there is more than one director wanting to use the address?

You will need to purchase the service for each director or PSC who wishes to use it. However, you only need the service once for each individual. So if an individual is a director and a PSC this would only count as one service.

Can I just use the director’s service address on its own?

No. We only provide this service as an added option for our Registered Office or Registered Office Plus service (note: our registered office plus service includes two service addresses).

What if I am a member/partner in an LLP?

Members (or partners) of an LLP also need to provide a service address and this service can be used in the same way as if they were a director.

Business Address Service Questions

How do you deal with recorded or special delivery mail?

We will forward it in the same manner as it is received. However, if you have any special instructions, please just let us know.

What are the mail forwarding charges?

We charge £4 per item of scanned mail, this also covers any charges for forwarding the mail.

I have the Business Address service. Can I use this as the registered office address as well?

Yes, the registered office service is included in the price.

I have the Business Address service. Can I use this as the director’s service address as well?

Yes, the service address is included as standard for all directors and PSC when you use the Business Address service.

Process Agent questions

01. I prefer not to fill online forms, do you have a form you can send me?

We can email a word version of our online form in either English or Chinese for you to complete, sign and date then return to [[email protected]] as a scanned copy. We will then issue an invoice for payment, which can be made via card or bank transfer.

02. Do you have an email address and/or contact name and/or fax number?

For setting up the service, you can contact us at [email protected]. However, we only accept service by physical delivery, this ensures that no service is missed. In terms of the Contact Name, this should just be completed as ‘The Directors’

03. Are there any other charges for your service?

We do not normally charge for the mail forwarding of any notices received in respect of your process agent service nor do we charge according to the number of agreements you wish the service to cover provided that the Appointer is a named party in each of the agreements described in the submitted application form. We would only charge in the event that the cost of dealing with the notices was excessive (e.g. because the Client was hard to contact or in the event that the number of proceedings issued against the company were very high). In our experience this is very rare.

04. Do you have a contract for your service that we could review?

The contract between ourselves and the Appointer is governed by the signed application form and our terms and conditions accessible from the link https://elementalcosec.com/terms-and-conditions-of-service/terms-and-conditions-for-process-agent-service/. This link is found in the completed application form and the applicant will need to confirm that they have read and accepted these.

05. If my need for a process agent turns out less than the number of years I’ve paid for, can I request a refund?

Unfortunately, our fees are not refundable. You do have the option to select a shorter initial term, in respect of all our services we invite our process agent clients usually one month before the end of any appointment term to renew. If you wish to extend the appointment period beyond the initial term, we would charge a renewal fee and the applicable annual fee for the extension.

06. Can you issue a Tax Resident Certificate?

UK companies are UK tax resident by default and although we can obtain a tax residency certificate from HMRC, we charge £50 to do this as it needs to be carried out for each country.

07. Do you offer a process agent service in a country other than the UK, for example USA?

We only provide process agent services in the United Kingdom.

08. Can you provide a “wet” signature formal appointment letter?

By default, we use an electronic signature for our formal appointment letters which is why we send by email. This is entirely proper under UK law, but we can reissue the letter with a traditional ‘wet’ signature if this is necessary.

09. Do you charge VAT?

No, provided the invoice is addressed to a non-UK resident or entity. We are VAT registered, but for most process agent clients, the service is outside the scope of VAT.

10. Can you issue third party appointment letters?

In limited circumstances, we can review and sign a third-party appointment letter. We can not sign a letter that unreasonably changes our obligations as a process agent, particularly with respect to the scope or duration of the appointment.

Get Started Find out how we can help

We’re here to keep things simple

If you would like to find out more about our services and how we can help support your business, please get in touch.

+44 (0)203 286 6229