Quick summary
Becoming a company director puts a residential address on the public Companies House register, unless you specifically provide a separate address for correspondence instead. It's a free, five-minute change, and one that directors of Resident Management Companies, who are often listing the very building they live in, should make on purpose rather than by default.
Nobody sets out to publish their home address on the internet. It just happens, quietly, the first time someone fills in a director appointment form and puts their real address in the box marked "address," because that's the box's name and nobody mentioned there was another option.
Why this catches people out
Companies House collects a residential address either way, that part's mandatory. What's easy to miss is that there's a separate field for a correspondence address, the one that actually appears on the public record, and the form defaults to feeling like there's only one address to give. For a director of a Resident Management Company, this is sharper than usual: the registered office is often a flat in the very building being listed, so the address on public record can point straight at a specific home.
What this correspondence address actually is
Anywhere you can genuinely be reached for official post, it doesn't have to be your home. Common options: the registered office itself, if it's not identifiably your own flat, a solicitor's or accountant's address, a virtual office provider, or, if it doesn't narrow down to your exact unit, the building's own address. If real privacy is the goal, a proper commercial address does more than the block's own address, which can still point at a specific person once someone cross-references flat numbers.
How to change it
Two routes, both free. An existing director can update it at any time through a short online form with Companies House, and it doesn't carry the two-week deadline that an appointment or a resignation does. A new director can simply provide this address at the point of appointment, rather than defaulting to their home one.
Worth understanding the split this creates: the address you give for correspondence is what's public. Your actual home address is still collected and kept on a separate register with restricted access, visible to Companies House and certain public authorities, but not published for anyone to search. That distinction, that a residential address still exists on file but isn't the same as the one anyone can look up, is genuinely not obvious from the forms themselves.
Who this matters most for
Anyone uncomfortable with a searchable link between their home and a public directorship, which the original research behind this piece turned up specifically among people in sensitive occupations. It's also simply worth doing for directors of Resident Management Companies generally: board disputes over service charges or maintenance decisions can get personal, and there's no upside to that trail leading straight to your front door.
What doesn't change
A correspondence address doesn't hide your name, month and year of birth, nationality, or occupation, all still appear on the public record. It doesn't remove the identity verification step every director now has to complete. And it doesn't affect your legal duties as a director in any way, it's purely about which address the public sees.
Your home address and the company's registered office are two separate records, and the second one catches people out when they move: moving the registered office.
Frequently asked questions
Is a correspondence address free to set up?
Yes. There's no fee for using or changing one, whether it's set at appointment or updated later.
Will my home address ever be visible to anyone?
Companies House and certain public authorities can access it, but it isn't published on the public register once a separate correspondence address is in place. There are limited historical exceptions for addresses set before this option became standard, worth checking directly with Companies House if that might apply to an older appointment.
Can I use the building's own address instead of my home address?
Often, yes, especially if it's already the company's registered office. If it narrows down to a specific flat number, though, it may not add much real privacy. A solicitor's or a formation agent's address is a more complete option if that's genuinely the concern.