General Address Questions
01. 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
02. 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 anytime by sending us an email with your new details.
03. Can I receive my mail by email?
No. We do not open your mail and we therefore cannot provide scanned copies.
04. How often do you forward mail?
The mail is forwarded to your specified address, generally on the same day it is received.
05. How long is the contract?
All of our mail contracts are on a yearly basis.
06. When and how do I pay?
Payment for the full year is taken in advance and you can pay by bank transfer, cheque, PayPal or by card.
07. 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.
08. What if I want to cancel?
You can cancel at any time, although you will not receive a refund for any pre-paid amounts.
09. 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.
10. 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.
11. Will you still be operating next year?
We certainly hope so. No-one can promise they will be around for ever but we know that certainty is important when choosing an address supplier. We have many happy customers and, as set out in the answer to the previous question, the mail forwarding business has been operating from this address for over 80 years.
12. What information do you need to set up the service?
We need certain information about the company and how you would like the mail forwarded. 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.
13. 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.
14. Do you provide telephone services or hire of meeting rooms?
No.
15. Do you accept service of legal proceedings?
Yes, though this is part of our process agent service.
16. 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 Questions
01. 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.
02. What mail will be forwarded?
The registered office service covers the forwarding of all statutory mail, but not other mail.
03. What is statutory mail?
We define statutory mail as mail from HM Revenue & Customs and Companies House.
04. 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 full mail forwarding service.
05. 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 are allowed to 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.
06. Can I upgrade to the full mailing address service later?
Yes, you can upgrade at any time.
07. 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.
08. Can I use the address as a director's service address?
Yes, but you will need to sign up for the director’s service address.
09. Do you charge for postage or handling?
No, not for the registered office service.
10. Are there extra fees for forwarding mail overseas?
No, our registered office service includes the forwarding of statutory mail to anywhere in the world.
Director’s service address questions
01. What is a director’s service address and how does it work?
Companies House require all directors 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.
02. 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, but it is not public information.
03. What if there is more than one director wanting to use the address?
You will need to purchase the service for each director who wishes to use it.
04. Can I just use the director’s service address on its own?
No. We only provide this service where we are also providing the registered office service to the director.
05. 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.
Full mail forwarding questions
01. 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.
02. What are the mail forwarding charges?
We charge 14 pence per item as a handling charge plus the actual postage charges. For many items in the UK, we are able to forward the item without any postage charges.
03. How does the postage deposit work?
We take a £35 deposit at the inception of the full mail forwarding service. This is to cover our postage and handling charges. When the initial £35 postage deposit is used up, we will contact you to top it up. When you cancel the contract, any unused deposit will be refunded.
04. I have the full mail forwarding service. Can I use this as the registered office address as well?
Yes, the registered office service is included in the price.
05. I have the full mail forwarding service. Can I use this as the director’s service address as well?
Yes, the director’s service address is included as standard for all directors.
