July 10, 2024 Further protection for residential addresses set out in draft regulations
Draft regulations to further protect an individual’s residential address under ECCTA have recently been laid.
The regulations would extend the protection currently available under section 1088 of the Companies Act 2006, allowing an individual to apply to remove their Usual Residential Address (URA) from the public register where it has previously been used as the registered office address of a company or limited liability partnership (LLP).
It should be noted that the protection would not be available if the URA is the company’s (or LLPs) current registered office address. Where the URA was used as the registered office address of a company which has since been dissolved, then the application may only be made from 6 months after the date of dissolution.
Where an application is successful, Companies House would remove the URA from public inspection where requested by removing all elements of that address, except the “outward code” from the postcode (the first half of a postcode e.g. WC1N). Where the address does not include an outward code, any information that denotes an equivalent or larger geographical area than the outer code would be left on the public record (e.g. a town or city).
The regulations therefore set out one of many proposed measures that are expected to be introduced under ECCTA to help protect and suppress personal information.
The regulations are due to come into force on 30 September 2024.
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