Clients are advised to check that the correct postage is attached to any envelope sending documents to Companies House.

Following the change in postage rates, if the incorrect postage is used, the document is held at the Royal Mail delivery office for 21 days (in case Companies House decide to collect it!) and then returned to the sender if this is clear from the outside of the envelope. If not, the envelope is sent to the dead letter agency in Belfast.

This has important implications for filing of documents at Companies House. If incorrect postage is used, the document is not reaching Companies House and therefore is not being correctly filed.

Great care should therefore be taken when filing time critical documents, such as Form 395 (mortgages), where the form has to be filed within 21 days of the date of creation of the charge in order to be enforceable against a liquidator, administrator or creditor of the company or Form 287, where the change in registered office only takes effect when registered by the Registrar.