Registered office address rental

[Tommo]

Hi Guys - This has been crossing my mind for a while.

(Pay X amount to be able to use a nice address with companies house and my paperwork)


Up until now I have used my home address, this doesn't bother me but as many say, this just does not give off a good impression.

For the sake of what, £60 a year I can get a London address

Are there any pros/cons I'm missing here?

Same with telephone number, I don't mind getting a local VOIP number to forward to my mobile when I'm out and about but an 020 just seems...better.

Or am I being petty?

Cheers
Tom

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

Loads of people use virtual offices, it's quite common and not petty at all. It is better to give a good impression after all, especially in B2B situations.

Try voipfone.co.uk for your numbers, they are just £2.40 a month and no contract. You can put it on forwarding to your mobile.

There should be no downside if you are sensible about how you use the services e.g. don't get into debt so that the debt collectors or angry customers turn up at the virtual office looking for you.

You mail should be within you only 1 day later if you have it sent on daily so no problems there. And if your provider has a scan option then you can read your mail the same day it arrives at the virtual office, so no time lost at all then.

Do beware of add-on costs with some virtual office providers such as paying extra for using as a registered office, or for a fixed amount of mail. This can soon add up and not work out quite so cheap after all. And make sure they are registered with ICO and MLR.

 

[Scoombs]

It's worth thinking about locations, there are many regional support groups and possible funding opportunities that are driven by local government initiaties. A nice London office would be great on a website but there might not be that many extra incentives to be based there. I'm not suggesting this at all but there was a business who used a Virtual office in Cornwall to take advantage of initiative to bring high-tech to the county. It worked for them.

I have a London virtual address which is also our registered address, it's regus and covers call answering and either forwarding or voicemail, mail forwarding, it works for us but £100 per month.
We also have a skype number which is an 020 number, thats £10 per quarter.

 

[Business Friend UK]

I don't think offices make you look professional. I spend a lot of time in my casual clothes at home. I have an EC1 office and I never even go in. I think because of technology these days its not like people really mind. I know loads of people who run businesses from their home. To get your post forwarded isn't cheap. I know central London is like 60 a month!

I think virtual offices are a bit dishonest too in a way.

what do you do Tom?

 

[Scoombs]

It serves a genuine purpose for us though, we have a central number that is staffed during all business hours.

 

[Business Friend UK]

I guess so.

 

[Tommo]

Event planning and management - all web based.


Thanks for your comments guys.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Hi Guys - This has been crossing my mind for a while.

(Pay X amount to be able to use a nice address with companies house and my paperwork)


Up until now I have used my home address, this doesn't bother me but as many say, this just does not give off a good impression.

For the sake of what, £60 a year I can get a London address

Are there any pros/cons I'm missing here?

Same with telephone number, I don't mind getting a local VOIP number to forward to my mobile when I'm out and about but an 020 just seems...better.

Or am I being petty?

Cheers
Tom

I think most people in business recognise the well known London address(es) pretty quickly

I wouldnt bother.

 

[Tommo]

Thats kind of my conclusion

I don't want to be seen to be pretending to be a big multinational when I am not.

So this brings us to, get a less prestigious virtual office or, stick with home address?

Tom

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Thats kind of my conclusion

I don't want to be seen to be pretending to be a big multinational when I am not.

So this brings us to, get a less prestigious virtual office or, stick with home address?

Tom

Save money and hassle and stick with home address

 

[Scoombs]

It really depends on how you get work and who you sell to.
If handing over a business card when you are in direct competition with other firms, then I would suggest a home address isnt really the best impression to leave them with.

But, whats worse is chopping and changing addresses, so stick with the decison is my advice.

 

[Paul Smalley]

My suspicion here Tom is that you have answered your own question!

People have differing views on whether a VO is the way to go.

We use one, but for very good reason! As we have expanded as a business over the last seven years, we have maintained a static address, which as far as our clients is concerned is very important as we receive their post!

We are now in office number four in seven years due to growth - changing address each time would have been a nightmare.

However in some situation I can see why a VO address would be good, but in others a waste of money. As you have identified you do not intend to be a multi-national, so presumably the home address would suffice!

Paul Smalley
papermountainsolutions.co.uk

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

It depends what you feel is a "prestigious" address - the location itself or the premises and their immediate location. Having a London address in Mayfair isn't going to be suitable for everyone no matter how posh it might sound.

Some people may need a virtual office nearby but where that doesn't matter, then to me you might as well use an addess that is also a serviced office which can then be anywhere in the UK because nobody can tell whether you are in fact based in there as a tenant or just using it as a virtual office.

 

[TODonnell]

Some reasons people use virtual offices and mail forwarding:

1. Do you want Joe Public, Joe Psychotic or just Joe Annoying to be able to get at you in your home, simply by going to the address on your stationery or website?

2. Landlords stipulate that you can't run a business from your home address.

3. You want to keep your personal life separate from your business.

4. Your mail can be easily redirected to your new home(s), from your virtual office, if you move house i.e. when you move house, you don't have to change all your stationery, website details, etc.

5. '7 High Street' looks more consistent with your being a substantial business than '33b Acacia Avenue'. People scan your site and stationery, even unconsciously, for clues as to how 'solid' you are.

 

[Business Friend UK]

Agreed. Besides, if you can run your business from home and are doing it successfully then that is something to be proud of. More profit less costs for the clever people.

 

[10032012]

Address

A W1 address etc. is prestigious but many businesses are saving money by setting base in EC and Ex postcodes.

As for a registered office address... I think its fine if you are using a virtual office service - so if you met clients you could hire a meeting room plus use hot desk or part-time office services if travelling around a lot.

For the address itself... It can appear cheap. Forwarding mail costs can rack up considering (unless you pay for this service) you still need to process the mail at your trading address - not to mention adds time to receive it (could double timescales). Pros and Cons.

Everyone "googles" the company name, and these days streetview...

Telephone Number

Regardless of where your registered office or virtual office is, many people look at what is better a geographical number or geographical number?

Do I get an 0800 number or 0845? There has been many studies over the years whether its better to have a freephone number or a local number... 0800 used to be the way to go, as a courtesy (i.e. if you enquire about our company's services we will pay for your call so you aren't out of pocket by doing so) but many people now apparently prefer a local number (although these days many are VOIP numbers without even being based in that number area - some number assignments shout out voip others get away with it).

Anyway... I do not think there is any value in an 020 number if your trading address and/or main customer base is outside London. To the unknown individual they probably wouldn't know, but to myself, and many others in business, you know about virtual receptionists and the like. I would not entertain a business who feels its better to get some business to take the call, obtain a message and pass it on to their actual trading location to give you a call back.

My personal opinion was they were quite nice back-in-the-day as it did allow you to inflate your company's size by impression, nowadays it has its sole use of what it was initially intended as.