Recent changes have made it easier for company directors to withhold disclosure of their private addresses in publicly filed documents. Prior to 2009, the usual residential address of all company directors was on file at Companies House in publicly accessible documents. However, following a number of incidents involving people opposed to the business activities of certain companies, a decision was taken that the private address of a director should no longer form part of the public record, although those already on record before the change was made continue to be available.
A procedure does exist by which a director can apply to have details of their residential address that were put on file before 2009 removed (although not those filed prior to January 2003). This applies where the director is concerned about threats of violence or intimidation.
New regulations, the Companies (Disclosure of Address) (Amendment) Regulations 2018, remove this requirement, allowing an application to be made to remove residential details from the public record without giving a specific reason. In addition, a director will be able to apply for an address filed before 1 January 2003 to be removed from the public record.
