Has your registered office changed without you knowing?
When completing the audit of one of my clients this week we noticed that the company’s registered office address had mysteriously changed.
My surprised client had never heard of the address some 50 miles away. We obtained a copy of the signed form 287 from companies house and it became apparent that the director’s signature had been forged
and someone, not connected with the company, had changed the Registered Office address.Unfortunately, I have heard of this before. A fictitious party purchases assets with a credit agreement using the company’s details and a “fake” Registered Office (which the lender checks at Companies House) to complete the deal. They then take (and probably sell) the assets leaving the liability with the company.
My client has contacted Companies House and the police - we can now only wait to hear from any lenders who think they have an agreement in place with the company.
There is clearly a lack of control over the current paper system and going forward my client will be using internet filing at Companies House - although this is not without its own complications (see http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/miscellaneous/misc1.shtml)
So my advice is to keep an eye on your statutory details and apply for internet filing as soon as you can.
