Removing your home address from Companies House: current record versus old filings

Seeing your home address on Companies House can mean two different problems. It may still be part of the company's live public record, or it may only survive in older filing images that remain searchable years later. The right fix depends on which of those you are dealing with.

Before you file anything, check exactly where the address appears. If it is still the current registered office or the company's SAIL address, that record must be changed before completing SR01. A serving officer whose home is still their service or correspondence address instead provides a replacement address in SR01. If the current record is already correct, the next question is whether particular historic documents can be suppressed through the Companies House process.

That distinction matters because changing today's public details does not automatically hide old filings, and a suppression application does not rewrite the company's current addresses.

There are also limits: not every address use can be removed, fees are charged per document, and copies already taken by third parties may remain online even after Companies House updates its register.

Where your address appears determines the remedy

• If you are a director or PSC, your usual residential address is generally given to Companies House but is not ordinarily shown on the public register.
• Your home address may be public because you used it as a service or correspondence address, as the registered office, as a SAIL address, or because it appears on an older public document.
• If the address is still the company's current registered office, change that first before making an SR01 application.
• If the address is also the current SAIL, change the SAIL first as well.
• If you still hold office and your home is your current service or correspondence address, provide the replacement address in the relevant section of SR01.
• Then identify every eligible public document that contains the address and decide whether to apply on form SR01.

This matters because changing the live address does not automatically hide old document images, and an SR01 application does not itself update the company's current registered office or your current service address.

Why your home address is public in the first place

Many founders assume that if Companies House asked for a home address, it must have chosen to publish it. Usually that is not the issue. For directors and PSCs, the usual residential address is normally kept on a private register, while the public register shows a service address.

The problem usually arises because a home address was used for a public function. That could be the company's registered office, an officer's service or correspondence address, or a single alternative inspection location. It can also appear on the original incorporation filing, an appointment form, or a later change of address filing.

If a home address was used as a secretary's public service address, it can appear on the register too.

So do not start by assuming every appearance of your address can be removed in the same way. First work out what the address is doing on the register.

Check the current public record before you apply

Search the company on the official Companies House service and look at both the current overview and the filing history. Our guide to searching Companies House director records explains where to start. You are trying to answer three practical questions.

1. Is the home address still the current registered office?
2. Is it still the current SAIL?
3. Is it still the current service address for a serving director, secretary, PSC or LLP member?

If the answer to the registered-office or SAIL question is yes, change that record before completing SR01. If the home is a current serving officer's service or correspondence address, provide the replacement in SR01. Companies House guidance says an active company must change its registered office before it can apply to remove a home address used there. If the address is also the current SAIL, that must be changed before completing SR01.

Where a serving officer is still using the home as a current service or correspondence address, a replacement service address must be given in SR01. That replacement will be public, so choose it carefully.

If you are changing the registered office, make sure you have permission to use the address and that it is an appropriate address for the company. If you are replacing a service or correspondence address, choose one where you can reliably receive correspondence. A casual arrangement can create a new problem if important post is missed or the provider withdraws permission. Read our guide to using a virtual business address before choosing a replacement.

For dissolved companies, the position is different. Current guidance says that if the home address was used as the company's registered office, you must wait six months after dissolution before applying to remove it.

How to find the right documents for an SR01 application

Once the current record is sorted, move to the document trail. SR01 is used to ask Companies House to suppress personal details from identified public documents. The key word is identified. You need to list the documents that actually contain the address.

Go through the filing history and open the document images that could show it. In practice, that often means the incorporation filing, appointment forms, old change of registered office forms, and any filing where a service address was stated. Make a list with the form name or document type and the registration date shown by Companies House.

Be careful where the address was used as the registered office. Companies House says you must list the original filing that first gave your home address as the registered office. Do not list only the later filing that changed the registered office away from your home. If you use the wrong document reference, the application can be rejected.

If your filing history is messy, build a simple table for yourself with four columns: document type, registration date, how the address appears, and whether the document still needs to be included in SR01. That can stop you paying for the wrong documents or missing the one that matters.

What SR01 does, what it costs, and how to send it

SR01 is the current individual application route for removing certain personal details from the Companies House register, including a home address, or part of it. The current Companies House SR01 page states that the fee is £34 for each document listed in the application.

That means the cost is calculated per document, not per application. If your address appears on five eligible filings, the fee is charged five times. For the email route, pay through GOV.UK Pay before sending the completed SR01 and include the payment reference. Companies House says it will reject an emailed application without that reference.

The current SR01 page also allows you to post the completed form with a cheque or postal order. Email with the payment reference is described as the quickest route; postal applications usually take longer. Check the current form instructions before choosing either route.

Do not copy details from an old blog or forum post, because submission routes and fees have changed over time. Use the current SR01 form page and the form instructions when you are ready to file.

Also remember what SR01 is not for. It is not the form that changes your present registered office. It is not the form that updates your service address. It is a suppression request for specified public documents.

What Companies House may not remove

Expect a practical result, not total erasure. Companies House guidance says it does not have the legal power to remove some categories of address use. Examples include an address that is the subject of a mortgage charge, or an address that forms part of a company's name.

It also cannot remove an address while it is still the current registered office or equivalent. That is why changing the live record first matters.

Even where an application succeeds, the result may be limited. In some former officer and former registered office cases, Companies House says it may hide only part of the address rather than remove every element from public view. For a UK address, that can mean only the first half of the postcode remains visible.

So if your goal is complete disappearance from every public trace, ordinary SR01 may not achieve that. It is better to treat it as a statutory suppression process with defined limits.

What happens outside Companies House

Even after a successful suppression application, other websites may still show copies they previously obtained from the public register. Companies House makes clear that the register is open to the public and third parties can make and keep copies of public information.

Once another organisation holds that data, it is responsible for its own data protection compliance. Companies House does not control those copies and cannot automatically remove them for you. If a search engine, company data platform or archive site still shows the address, you may need to contact that organisation separately.

This is also why an ordinary UK GDPR erasure request is not a substitute for the Companies House process. Companies House says it does not have to comply with standard erasure or rectification requests in the usual way for this public register information because it has a statutory duty to make company information available.

In short, changing the register and cleaning up the wider internet are related but separate tasks.

Do not confuse SR01 with serious-risk protection

There is also a different protection route for cases involving risk of serious violence or intimidation. That is not the same as an ordinary SR01 application.

SR01 is the usual form for an individual asking to suppress eligible personal details from specified documents. Separate applications exist for companies or charge-related situations involving serious risk, and they have different rules and evidence requirements.

The same is true for special protections affecting disclosure to credit reference agencies or wider PSC protection. Those are not automatic just because your home address has appeared publicly before.

If your issue is routine historical exposure, start by checking whether SR01 fits. If the filing history is complicated, the company has dissolved, the address appears across many forms, or there is a dispute about what should be changed first, getting help can save time and rejected filings.

Key Takeaways

• Start by working out whether your home address is still on a live Companies House record or only appears in historic filing images, because the remedy is different.
• Change a current registered office or SAIL address before completing SR01. For a serving officer's current service or correspondence address, provide the replacement within SR01.
• SR01 is a document-by-document suppression process, so you need to identify the correct filings and pay £34 for each listed document.
• Where an address was used previously, Companies House may hide only part of it in some cases rather than remove every public trace.
• Even if Companies House suppresses the address, copies already held by search engines, data sites or other third parties may still need separate action.

If you would like help reviewing your filing history, changing a registered office or service address, preparing an SR01 application, or checking whether a more specialised protection route may apply, Sprintlaw's legal team can assist. Call 08081347754 or email team@sprintlaw.co.uk.