Single alternative inspection location (SAIL)

From 1 October 2009, the new Companies Act introduces a requirement that a company’s statutory books (including its register of directors and members) must be kept either at its registered office or at a Single Alternative Inspection Location (SAIL) address, which must be located in the UK (Scottish companies will need a SAIL address in Scotland and similarly Northern Irish companies in Northern Ireland). A company’s registers must be made available for inspection at the SAIL.

Notifications made to Companies House before 1 October 2009 that a Company’s Registers are held at a location other than the Registered Office are no longer valid. With effect from 1 October 2009 all such records at Companies House have been amended and will show that the Company’s Registers are held at the Registered Office.

Hence, if your company’s registers are not maintained at the Registered Office, for example, your company secretarial function is outsourced to an external supplier or you use external share registrars to manage your Company’s Register of Shareholders, you will need to notify Companies House of your Company’s SAIL address as soon as possible after 1 October 2009.

Only one SAIL address is permitted, which means a company must ensure that all its registers are kept together, either at its registered office or at the SAIL and must not be split between the two.

London Registrars is able to provide its central London address as a SAIL for public and private companies alongside registered office address and directors’ service address for all types of companies. Please go to our single alternative inspection location page for more details.