Return to sender? Companies House default address sufficient for service of a petition

The High Court has held that service of a winding-up petition at the Companies House default address is valid.

Background

Companies House can change a registered office address to a default address where a company's office address is not appropriate. Here, Companies House exercised this power to change DG Resources Ltd's registered office after the company failed to respond to a notice within the required timeframe.

HMRC served a winding-up petition at this default address and it was accepted by a receptionist who confirmed they were authorised to accept service on behalf of the company. The company challenged this as the receptionist was unconnected to the company. 

Decision

The Court found that HMRC had validly served the petition because:

• A petition does not have to be served on a director, officer or employee. 
• A person accepting service does not need to be expressly authorised to do so.
• The law also permits leaving the petition at the registered office where it is likely to come to the notice of a person attending the office – 'person' is not limited to directors, officers or employees.

Key takeaways 

For creditors: Service at default addresses is valid. You can serve winding-up petitions at Companies House default addresses where either a person acknowledges they can accept it or it is left where it is likely to come to a person's attention.

For companies: Ensure your registered office is appropriate and respond promptly to correspondence from Companies House seeking to change it.  

Find out more

To discuss the issues raised in this article in more detail, please contact a member of our Restructuring and Insolvency team.

DG Resources Ltd v The Commissions for his Majesty's Revenue and Customs [2025] EWHC 2208 (Ch)