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Keeping a small business afloat isn’t always easy, especially during times of economic turbulence. With rising utility bills and increasingly costly rent payments, these expenses can quickly pile up and significantly impact your ability to turn a profit.

A top tip on every budgeting playbook for small businesses is to identify areas to cut spending. For instance, you can get office rent payments off your expense checklist by getting a cheap virtual office address for your official business dealings. This is ideal for small businesses and micro-startups that are working remotely and don’t need a physical office to operate on a daily basis.

In the UK, your registered office address is your business’ legally recognised location for correspondence with government agencies like HMRC and Companies House. While you can use any location, there are a number of disadvantages of using your home address for business, including privacy, security and the professional image of your business. 

In this article, you’ll learn how a registered address works and how you can get one from the cheapest registered office address provider in the UK. 

What is a Registered Office Address, and Why Do I Need One?

When you initially set up a new business as a limited company in the UK, one of your first legal obligations is to provide Companies House with a registered office address. This is where all official communications relating directly to your company will be sent.

‘Official communications’ in this context refers to any direct correspondence sent from UK government departments and agencies. Typically, this will be HMRC and Companies House, although other official bodies may also use it when required.

As such, it’s a very important consideration when setting up a limited company – indeed, it’s a legal requirement for all registered companies and partnerships based in the UK. Moreover, when you provide Companies House with your registered address, all future official notices sent to that address are assumed to have been received by your company, which means you’re responsible for making sure you take action when required.

Note that your registered address isn’t necessarily the same as your trading address. 

The difference between a registered address and trading address is that, while your registered address is required by law to be included in your letters and invoices, there are no such legal obligations with your trading address. Instead, it’s simply the address you choose to display to business contracts for non-statutory mail.

A Few Quick Facts About Your Registered Office Address

• All UK-based limited companies or partnerships are legally obliged to provide the address of a registered office in the UK, as dictated by Section 86 of the Companies Act 2006.
• This must be established and in place before you continue the process of setting up and registering your limited company.
• UK registered companies must provide an official office address in this country, even if your actual business activity occurs entirely online (for example ecommerce), or if you conduct the majority of your day-to-day business activity overseas.
• While it doesn’t need to be in the same location as your business premises, it does need to be in the same national jurisdiction of the UK (e.g. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) as your company registration.
• It’s your legal responsibility to ensure that you and/or your company directors will have direct access to any official documents and communications sent out to your business address, on an ongoing basis, from the time of registration.
• It’s not possible to use a PO Box alternative alone. While it’s fine to include one as part of your publicly available record, there must still be a physical street address and viable postcode attached to it.
• Your registered address will appear on the Companies House public record, and as such will be available to anyone searching for it. For this reason, many companies register a different address for office communications that isn’t the same as their regular trading or business premises.

Can I Buy a Registered Office Address That’s Different From My Business Address?

Yes, absolutely – and when you choose to buy one from The Hoxton Mix, you’ll get instant access to some of the cheapest registered office address deals on the market today. We can easily provide you with a convenient and cheap official correspondence address, starting from as little as 41p a day.

Find out more about the benefits on offer to companies who choose to rent a business address.. 

Advantages of Buying a Cheap Registered Office Address

There are many benefits to using a cheap registered office address provider in the UK. You don’t just need it to fulfill a legal requirement—it’s also a great way of boosting your corporate image. 

Below are five key advantages of buying a cheap registered office address for a limited company:

1. A registered office protects your privacy

If you are working from home, one of the main disadvantages of using a home address for a business is that it risks your privacy by putting your home address out into the public domain. All of your customers and service providers will be able to find it and, potentially, show up at your family home unexpectedly.

As a small business in the UK, the good news is that you don’t have to pay exorbitantly high London rent for your official correspondence. For a small fee, The Hoxton Mix’s official address will give you a separate business address from your home address, keeping your home away from unruly customers, scammers and more. 

2. A registered office is affordable

If you’ve ever paid rent in London, you can agree that registered office address fees are next to nothing. A cheap registered office address for your limited company will massively cutt down your business’ day-to-day expenses and maximise profit. 

3. Improves your company’s image

While you can have separate addresses for different needs, your registered address must be public. That means every potential client or partner that looks up your business will associate that address with your brand. And a good address gives you a touch of class and boosts your company image. 

4. Additional mail, phone and office services to streamline your business

Along with a registered address, the Hoxton Mix also offers services for a central London phone number - again, managing your privacy and improves your company image - and mail services.  Our leading class scanning service, takes your physical mail, scans it and sends it to your inbox within one working day of receipt. All of your mail is now digitised, searchable and just a click away wherever you are working - you will never miss an important mail and with a quick search, you will find what you are looking for. Your physical mail can then be forwarded on to you if you want. If not - after 30 days - we will securely shred it for you.  

5. Ensures compliance with relevant legislation

By law, companies must have a registered office address, which must be a UK address. But what if you operate your business from abroad? Or you don’t need physical premises to keep it going? With us, the solution is simple. 

You can enjoy your freedom of conducting business from anywhere while following the rules.

5. A registered office is easy to set up

Similar to virtual offices, a registered office address is quick and easy to set up. The application process is not complex, and doesn't require your physical presence or much  effort on your part. 

Why Might I Want to Buy One?

The correspondence address you register with Companies House is where all official postal communications will be sent moving forward. Therefore, if you don’t want it to be the same as your main physical/trading location, it’s worth giving some consideration to which address you’ll use.

While it can be changed in future, you’ll need to inform Companies House in advance, complete the necessary paperwork, and pay a fee in order to officially register the change on public record. 

If you think your correspondence address may need to change, or if your best option for official communications is a personal/residential premises that you’d prefer to keep off the public record, then you may prefer to buy a registered office address instead.

Additionally, Companies House requires that the name of your company must be displayed reasonably prominently at the address given for the registered office service. Specifically, any signage displayed must be easy to see and read at all times, including outside trading hours or when the business is closed. Again, this may not be ideal at, for example, a private residence.

How Does Buying a Cheap Registered Office Address Work?

When you choose a cheap registered office address from The Hoxton Mix, you get access to a range of services that you can build into your own bespoke virtual office package and tailor it however works best for you.

Some of the many benefits of our registered office service include:

• Mail handling, drop-off and pickup services operating Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm
• Alerts from us when you receive certain types of official communications
• A prime mailing address at an impressive central London location
• Easier completion of the Companies House registration requirements and processes
• No additional postage charges – our flexible-term, low monthly price is all you will pay, regardless of how much post you receive
• Cancel your plan at any time, with no hidden cancellation fees or charges beyond your current billing period

For more information or to discuss how Virtual Office packages or registered office addresses might work for you and your company, contact us today.

We’re always happy to talk you through how things work here at The Hoxton Mix, and how our solutions can help you set up your new business more smoothly.

The Hoxton Mix Provides a Cost-Effective Solution

We honour our commitment to providing affordable virtual office addresses, and thousands of clients have already taken advantage of this solution. 

The best option is to work with an office provider who knows the relevant local legislation and is prepared for anything. Any obstacle or pitfall your business might come across is something we have encountered and solved numerous times before.

Our team will be happy to set you up with a prestigious virtual office in London that will impress your clients and business contacts. All we need is 10 minutes of your time.

Not only can you get a virtual business address for a low price, but you can also select from a range of complementary features to add to your virtual office service. After a thorough consultation, we’ll build out a custom service offering that will help your business thrive.

Final Thoughts

We can’t stress enough the convenience of having an inexpensive virtual office. The ability to run your company from anywhere in the world with minimal overheads, access to worldwide talent, a good public image and credibility, a strong local presence, and more is just a part of what you get. Perhaps you want to keep your physical address or the addresses of your stakeholders private or delegate mail handling (storage, forwarding, scanning, etc.) to someone else. If any of these benefits interest you, strongly consider transitioning to a virtual office.

But not every provider will fit within your budget, especially if you’re a startup or a small business. After all, the market in the UK is tough. Many companies are raising their prices for various reasons, but we want to make sure our service remains affordable year after year. Even in tough economic times, you can rely on The Hoxton Mix for a cheap virtual address in the UK.

FAQ

How much does a cheap registered office address cost?

You can get a registered office address in London with mail handling from just £19/month with The Hoxton Mix. Our Virtual Office London plan includes same-day mail scanning services, secure post storage for 30 days, and the option to collect or forward your mail across the UK. For those who need all physical post automatically redirected, our UK Mail Forwarding add-on starts from under £13/month. If you're unsure which plan fits your needs best, browse our virtual office options to find the right setup for your business.

What is the cheapest virtual registered office address solution in the UK?

The cheapest virtual registered office solution for you depends on where you want your office to appear to be based. While some providers may seem cheap at first, you end up paying more than expected as a result of hidden fees. With The Hoxton Mix, what you see is what you get. Our services are the cheapest you can get in London because we have flexible plans, and we don’t charge set-up fees.

How to change your business address

When you change a business address you need to inform a number of parties, including your customers and service providers, but you are also legally obliged to inform HMRC and Companies House of any address change. You can change your address with HMRC via your online account, navigating to the ‘Change of Address’ section. If you are changing your registered office address, you’ll need to file an AD01 with Companies House online or by mail, or by using the Companies House WebFiling service.

What's included with your low-cost virtual office in the UK?

Different plans come with different benefits. You can select drop off/pick up point, mail handling, forwarding, scanning, emailing, posting, meeting room rentals, and a London 202 number. But no matter how basic or complex your plan is, you can count on cheap and easy office management and rapid support on our side.

My company is not registered yet. Can you help me?

We have great news for you — when you buy cheap virtual office space at The Hoxton Mix, you can receive company formation services for free! In partnership with Crunch, we’ll help you register a limited company in the UK at your virtual office address.

Do I need a virtual office to operate in the UK?

A business address is required to legally and officially register a business. You can always rent a regular office, but why would you spend so much money on that when there is an affordable alternative? Our services allow you to rent a cheap virtual office address instead of spending a lot of money on physical premises in one of the most expensive places in the world.

How do I get my mail?

Your physical mail gets sent to our address, we scan it using our in-house AI software and scanning machines, it then gets digitised and sent to your inbox.  You can then access it wherever you are. Once digitised, the mail can be searched and archived, meaning that you always have access to it digitally and it makes finding relevant mail much easier.