5 things you need to form a limited company

The UK companies’ houses rules help people to start their company quickly and easily, and this includes establishing your business as a limited company. Before you start your business in the UK as a limited company you need to organise these 5 items. These items are important during the online company registration process.

• A company limited by shares 
• Limited by guarantee (often used by non-profit organisations)
• Limited liability partnership
• Public limited company

1. A company name
 
The company name is one of the most important requirements for company formation in the UK. Before selecting the company name know the rules that Companies House imposed for choosing company name:
 

• First, The name of your company should be unique i.e no other company in the UK should register with a similar name or deem too similar names with an existing company. Verify your company name with the Company name availability checker by Companies House in the UK.
• You cannot select any sensitive or offensive words in the company name. The company name should not relate to any government names. Check the list of sensitive words provided by companies’ house.
• The suggested company name should not exceed 200 characters and should end with word “limited” or its abbreviation “LTD”

 
2. Registered office address
 
Every Registered company in the UK should have a registered office address, the legal headquarters of a company. The register office address is the point of contact for the government’s official.  
 
Companies House has several rules for registered official addresses are:

• The official address of the company must be in the jurisdiction (England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland). You can change the address of the company any period but you are not allowed to change the jurisdiction your company has been registered in.
• A physical address.
• You cannot use a PO Box number or DX number

The company official address will be made publicly available after the company registration.

3. A service address
 
While registering a company in the UK with company house you need to provide service address of all company directors, secretaries, subscribers, PSC and LLP members. As the Registered Office, the service address is the official contact address when HMRC or Companies House need to contact you.
 
The following rules apply to a service address:
 

• It can be anywhere in the UK or overseas
• It must be a physical address
• You cannot use a PO Box number or DX number
• Your service address can be the same as your registered office address
• You are only allowed to use one service address at a time, but you can change your service address at any time

 
Similar to the registered office address, the service address of company members will also be displayed on the public register.
 
4. A director
 
To form a limited company in the UK, you must appoint at least one company director. He/she is responsible to check the operation of the company and make decisions on behalf of the company.
 
Rules to appoint the director of the company are: 
 

• You cannot be under the age of 16
• You cannot be an undischarged bankrupt
• You cannot be a disqualified director whose term of disqualification isn’t yet expired
• You cannot be the auditor of the company

 
Director of the company is not fixed it can be changed at any point in time.
 
5. A member
 
You'll additionally require in at least one shareholder (or member) – somebody who will possess the organization. Most of the organizations are privately owned companies limited by shares, whose purpose is to make a profit and distribute it to the owners or shareholders.
 
The director and shareholder can be a similar person, so if you are forming a company on your own you can use the same person name for the two positions. 
                                               
Where the company is to be limited by guarantee, the members (also known as guarantors) agree to ‘guarantee’ a certain amount of money to pay into the company, should it ever experience financial difficulty.