Setting up a property SPV brings with it a handful of address requirements that are easy to confuse, and getting them wrong can mean missed statutory correspondence or an unintended loss of privacy. This article explains the difference between a registered office and a trading address, which one your SPV actually needs, and how the position changes if the company’s directors or shareholders are based outside the UK.
Key Takeaways
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Every UK company, including a property SPV, must always have a registered office address in the UK; this is a legal requirement regardless of whether the company trades from that location.
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A trading address, sometimes called a business address, is where the company operates from day to day, and there is no legal requirement for it to exist separately or to be disclosed to Companies House at all.
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Since 4 March 2024, a registered office must be an “appropriate address” capable of receiving and acknowledging delivery of documents, under section 86 of the Companies Act 2006 as amended by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023; PO boxes are no longer acceptable on their own.
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The registered office must also sit in the same UK jurisdiction as the company’s place of incorporation, so a Scottish company needs a Scottish registered office, and so on.
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Directors, secretaries and persons with significant control must each provide a separate service address, which can be different again from both the registered office and any trading address.
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Since 18 November 2025, companies no longer have to keep their own register of directors, register of directors’ residential addresses, register of secretaries or PSC register, Companies House now holds this centrally. The register of members remains company-held, and since 26 January 2026 it must be kept in-house, as the option to hold it centrally has been withdrawn.
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Non-UK resident directors and shareholders face no residency restriction when forming an SPV. However, the registered office must still be a genuine UK address, which typically means using a registered office service.
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A Single Alternative Inspection Location (SAIL) address is a further, optional address used only for storing the register of members, now the main statutory register companies still hold themselves, and most SPVs will never need one.
What is a Registered Office Address?
The registered office is your company’s official legal address at Companies House, the address used to serve statutory documents. It doesn’t have to be where the business actually operates, and property SPVs especially often have a registered office with no connection to any property they own.
“Registered office” is the precise term used in the Companies Act 2006 and by Companies House. “Registered address” is just the informal way most people say the same thing. Companies House, HMRC, courts and other official bodies use it to serve documents on the company, and it must be maintained at all times from the moment of incorporation.
The "appropriate address" test (since 4 March 2024)
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 inserted a new test into section 86 of the Companies Act 2006. To qualify, an address must:
- Be somewhere a document delivered by hand or by post would reasonably reach someone acting for the company
- Allow delivery to be acknowledged
- No longer a bare PO box on its own
Compliance risk: failing to maintain an appropriate address can lead to Companies House challenging the company, and, in persistent cases, striking it off the register.
There is also a jurisdiction-matching rule that is easy to overlook. The registered office must sit in the same part of the UK where the company is registered. Hence, a company registered in Scotland needs a Scottish registered office, and one registered in England and Wales needs an address in England or Wales. This matters most where directors are managing an SPV from a different part of the UK to where it was originally incorporated, or where a formation agent’s default address happens to sit in the wrong jurisdiction.
Because the registered office is public information, searchable by anyone, many SPV directors choose not to use their own home or office as this address. A professional registered office service, often provided by an accountancy firm, formation agent or solicitor, satisfies the legal requirement while keeping the director’s personal address off the public record. Where an accountant or solicitor’s own address is used in this way, their permission must be obtained first, since it is their premises being placed on the public register.
A compliant registered office address, monitored daily, with statutory post scanned and forwarded same-day. Keep your home address off the public register.
What is a Trading Address?
A trading address, also referred to as a business address, is simply the location from which the company actually carries on its activities. For many businesses this might be a shop, an office or a warehouse. For a property SPV, however, there is often no single trading address in that sense at all. The company’s business is holding and letting property, and the properties themselves are assets on the balance sheet rather than places from which the company operates.
Unlike the registered office, there is no general legal requirement to register a separate trading address with Companies House, and no obligation for one to exist independently. In fact, “trading address” has no statutory definition at all; it is a commercial and industry term rather than one found in the Companies Act 2006 or in Companies House guidance, and it is worth bearing that in mind wherever it appears in this article, since any statement about it reflects common usage and practical experience rather than a stated legal rule.
Many SPVs never disclose a trading address anywhere, and use the registered office (or the accountant’s address, where that is being used as the registered office) for all correspondence, including banking, insurance and VAT registration where applicable. Where a trading address is used, it tends to be a practical or commercial choice, for example a letting agent’s office the directors want correspondence routed through, rather than a legal necessity.
A separate business address, kept apart from your registered office, for day-to-day correspondence, banking or letting agent enquiries.
Trading Address vs Registered Address: Key Differences
The table below sets out the main points of contrast at a glance.
| Registered Office / Address | Trading Address | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal requirement | Compulsory for every UK company | No general legal requirement |
| Purpose | Official address for statutory correspondence | Where the business actually operates day to day |
| Recorded at Companies House | Yes, always | No, unless it's also used as another required address |
| Must be in the UK | Yes, and in the correct jurisdiction | No, can be anywhere the business operates |
| Publicly searchable | Yes | Only if it doubles as the registered office |
| PO box allowed | No, not on its own, since March 2024 | Yes |
| Can there be more than one | No, only one per company | Yes, multiple trading locations are fine |
Can You Use the Same Address for Both?
Yes, and in practice, most small and single-office companies do this. When it comes to trading address vs registered address, nothing stops a company from using its registered office as its trading address This is usually the simplest option when there is no separate place of business, which is common for most buy-to-let and property investment companies. If a company does operate from a different location, such as running a lettings or management business alongside a property portfolio, it can use one address for official correspondence and another for daily business. The registered office just needs to meet the legal requirements on its own.
Privacy
Most directors use a registered office service or an accountant's address to keep their home address off the public register.
Operational reality
A business with several locations cannot use all of them as its registered office, since only one is allowed.
Professional image
Having a registered office in a well-known business district can make a company look more credible.
Which One Does Your Property SPV Need?
Most SPVs do not have a separate trading address. If directors run the SPV from home, through an accountant, or with a managing agent, there is usually no need for another address. The registered office can also serve as the main contact for banks, lenders, and HMRC.
A trading address becomes important when dealing with third parties who want to know where the business is really based. This is most common with mortgage lenders reviewing a limited company buy-to-let application or insurers underwriting a portfolio. These parties usually care more about who runs the company and where the properties are located than about the legal idea of a ‘trading address.’ Still, it is best to be consistent. Using the registered office address on all company documents, bank forms, and lender applications helps avoid confusion or delays.
This is one of the areas PropertySPV helps clients with this directly. We set up the registered office correctly when the company is formed and advise on whether a separate trading address is really needed for a specific lender or insurer, instead of just using one by default.
Do You Need a Separate Registered Office Address Service?
You don’t have to use a registered office address service, but many company owners do for privacy and convenience, not because the law requires it. These services, often run by accountancy firms, formation agents, or specialists like PropertySPV, keep your home address off the public register and make sure you receive important mail. They are especially helpful for companies with directors who live outside the UK and need a real UK address but don’t have their own premises here. Many providers can also give you a separate trading address if you need one, which is useful if a lender or letting agent wants a consistent contact point. Using these services is optional, not a legal requirement.
Service Addresses and Director Privacy
It is worth distinguishing the registered office from a third type of address that often gets confused with it: the service address. Each director, company secretary (if one is appointed) and person with significant control must provide a service address, which is the address used for their individual correspondence and which also appears on the public register.
A service address does not need to match the registered office, and directors frequently use a professional address here for the same privacy reasons that lead them to use one for the registered office itself. Their residential address remains held privately by Companies House and is not publicly searchable unless it happens also to be used as the service address or registered office.
Statutory Registers & the SAIL Address
Companies must also keep certain statutory registers available for inspection, and this area has changed significantly. Since 18 November 2025, companies are no longer required to maintain their own register of directors, register of directors’ residential addresses, register of secretaries or PSC register, as this information is now held centrally by Companies House instead. The register of members remains a company-held register. Since 26 January 2026, it must be kept in-house, as the previous option to hold it centrally at Companies House has been withdrawn.
A company can still nominate a Single Alternative Inspection Location, known as a SAIL address, if it prefers to keep the register of members somewhere other than the registered office. A SAIL address is entirely optional, must sit in the same UK jurisdiction as the registered office, and given how few registers now remain company-held, it is something only a small minority of property SPVs will need to think about, typically where a professional adviser is maintaining the register of members on the company’s behalf.
Non-UK Resident Directors and Overseas Company Owners
PropertySPV works with a significant number of clients who are not UK resident but who own or direct SPVs holding UK property. The Companies Act 2006 imposes no residency requirement on directors or shareholders, and a non-UK resident can be the sole director and owner of a UK SPV without issue. The registered office requirement, however, does not soften for overseas owners: it must still be a genuine UK address in the correct jurisdiction, and an address in the director’s home country cannot be substituted. In practice this means almost all non-resident-owned SPVs use a UK registered office service, which also solves the related problem of needing a UK address to satisfy banks and lenders during the incorporation and account-opening process.
Non-resident directors will also need to provide a service address, which, unlike the registered office, can be located anywhere in the world. This gives useful flexibility: the registered office can sit with a UK provider while the director’s own correspondence address remains overseas.
Getting the Addresses Right in Practice
For most companies, the practical setup is straightforward:
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A service address for each director and PSC — often through the same provider, for consistency and privacy.
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A registered office through a professional service or the company's accountant.
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No separate trading address, unless the business genuinely operates from somewhere distinct from its correspondence point.
Whatever address is used as the registered office should also appear correctly on the company’s website, invoices and other business documents — displaying an incorrect registered office is itself a compliance failure.
Conclusion
To sum up the trading address vs registered address question. A registered office is a fixed legal requirement for every UK SPV. It must remain a genuine, appropriate UK address at all times, regardless of where the company actually trades from or where its directors live. A trading address, by contrast, is a matter of practical convenience rather than legal obligation, and many SPVs never need one distinct from the registered office.
Getting the various addresses, registered office, service address and, where relevant, SAIL address, set up correctly and consistently from the outset avoids missed correspondence. It keeps directors’ personal details off the public record.
FAQs
A registered office (sometimes loosely called a registered address) is the legally required address Companies House and HMRC use for official correspondence with the company. A trading address is wherever the business actually operates from day to day, and there is no legal requirement for one to exist separately or to be registered anywhere.
This is not a formal legal term. It tends to come from people combining “registered office” and “trading address” into one phrase, when in fact these are two separate concepts: the registered office is the compulsory statutory address. In contrast, a trading address is an informal description of where the business operates, with no registration requirement attached to it at all.
There is no legal reason why not, since a trading address is not a defined statutory concept and nothing prevents a company from describing its accountant’s address as its point of business contact. In practice, most SPVs that use their accountant’s address do so for the registered office, and do not maintain a separate trading address at all. If you do want to use the accountant’s address in a trading capacity as well, you should still obtain their agreement first, as a courtesy and to avoid confusion over correspondence.
Yes, these terms are generally used interchangeably. “Registered office” is the precise term used in the Companies Act 2006 and by Companies House, while “registered address” is simply the informal way people often refer to the same thing.
There is no legal reason why not, since a trading address is not a defined statutory concept and nothing prevents a company from describing its accountant’s address as its point of business contact. In practice, most SPVs that use their accountant’s address do so for the registered office, and do not maintain a separate trading address at all. If you do want to use the accountant’s address in a trading capacity as well, you should still obtain their agreement first, as a courtesy and to avoid confusion over correspondence.
Yes, provided it is a UK address, and you are comfortable with it being publicly searchable on the Companies House register. Many directors prefer not to for privacy reasons and use a professional registered office service instead.
No. There is no legal requirement to maintain a separate trading address, and most SPVs of this kind use the registered office for all correspondence.
No. The registered office must always be a UK address, regardless of where the directors or shareholders are based. A registered office service is the usual solution for overseas owners.
Failing to maintain an accurate, appropriate registered office address is a compliance failure. It can ultimately lead to Companies House taking action against the company and its officers, so any change should be filed promptly.
No. A SAIL address is solely an optional location for storing the register of members for public inspection; it has nothing to do with where the business trades from and is unrelated to the trading address concept. Most other statutory registers no longer need to be held by the company at all following the November 2025 reforms.
