Legal

Specific Terms and Conditions of Services

The following Specific Terms and Conditions apply to all trading that occurs through the TheCompanies Website – https://thecompaniesco.com – and all secondary pages. Each of these clauses must be carefully reviewed and acknowledged in accordance with the above General Terms and Conditions which relate to any contract between us and your general use of the web site.

1. Definitions

• TheCompanies may be referred to as TheCompanies, https://thecompaniesco.com, ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’ or ‘ourselves’. Our listed office is situated at 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ.

2. TheCompanies company incorporation services

2.1 Limitation of liability

• When you acquire a company formation from TheCompanies.co, you give permission for us to register with Companies House, as an accredited individual for and in support of the company, the legal practises necessary to enforce the company formation service you are complying with in this contract. We require evidence of your personal identification in order to proceed with your application for a company formation, and the service will only continue once this has been received.

2.2 Special Limitation of Liability

• We will not be held accountable or liable for any mistakes or oversights of any form, which may become apparent in the information submitted when using our company formation service. Nor we will be held responsible for any company formation application which is consequently turned down by Companies House.
• Reimbursements are not granted for acquired products or services from TheCompanies if your company formation application is turned down by Companies House.
• TheCompanies will not be held liable in the event that your company is taken off the Register for instances that go beyond our power. We also do not accept liability if we decide to dismiss any services within this agreement due to your company’s failure to meet the legal requests.
• Selecting a company name that is free to use, original and legalised is your concern and not that of TheCompanies. We will not be held liable for any potential issues that may occur with your selection of company name.

2.3 Requirements for the use of our incorporation services

• In the UK, you must be aged 16 or over in order to legally register a limited company or a limited liability partnership. All directors, company secretaries and LLP members within a company must be aged 16 or over. Those who are under the age of 16 are restricted to shareholding in private companies limited by shares.
• Persons who are bankrupt or in the process of bankruptcy are forbidden from registering a limited UK company, nor are they permitted to be employed as a director or company secretary. Undischarged bankrupts are limited to holding shares in private companies limited by shares.
• Those who are presently named on the Disqualified Directors Register are not authorised to register a limited company or limited liability partnership. Unless the appropriate Court grants it, disqualified directors with remaining time on their ban are not authorised to act as a company director, company secretary or LLP member. Again, these disqualified directors are only permitted to hold shares in private companies limited by shares.
• TheCompanies holds no responsibility or liability for any issues that occur when employed individuals fail to meet what is legally necessary in company formation, nor will we be held responsible for any denial of assimilation. Ensuring the approval of all named individuals on the company formation application is solely your responsibility.

2.4 Purchasing our products and services

• There will be many different options to choose from when you are taken through the ordering process, and it is your duty to comprehend these options fully before you make your purchases. Enquiries regarding your personal order, or further information about any of our products and services should be queried before you confirm your order. Please contact us during our UK business hours to do so. We aim to deal with all enquiries as soon as possible, yet this cannot always be the case. To ensure you are satisfied with your order and that your queries are answered, it is your obligation to acquire more information from our team before you confirm the order.
• In meeting these Terms and Conditions and subject to our agreement, any order that you make using this Site is understood as being your request to purchase the products or services that we offer. There may be instances where we do not accept an order and do not provide a reason.
• It is your responsibility to ensure that all the information and directions you provide us with are accurate and complete. Our services are only provided on this premise, and that you have given us the authority to legally perform such directions. We accept no liability for the refusal of services due to erroneous and unfinished documents.
• Any of your documents that contain mistakes or inadvertences are your responsibility and we are not liable for any incorrect or inaccurate documents that are uploaded (or not) to this Site, and consequently turned down by Companies House.
• Any orders which are placed for the Pre-Submission Review are your concern, and you need to confirm that your documents are accurate, complete and compliant before you submit them.
• In acceptance of these Terms and Conditions, you are giving us the permission to register with Companies House as an official individual for, and in support of the company, the necessary legal procedures that apply the services you are complying with under this contract for the full duration of the contract. In the instance that these services are void, dismissed, or expired due to failure of payment, you give us permission to register the necessary legal documents to cancel these services.
• We reserve the right to register the following legal documents: AD01, AD02, AP01, AP02, AP03, AP04, CH01, CH02, SH01, TM01 and TM02. Please note that this list is not exhaustive.
• We are regulated by the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 and by accepting these Terms and Conditions you are granting us authority to carry out a digital ID verification check by CreditSafe or similar organisation for the purposes of checking your identity and address. This online check may be recorded on your credit record, and a record of the search will be retained.
• Should we not be able to successfully verify your identity and address using our digital ID verification process, we will require you to provide proof of your identity and address in the form of certified copies of the original documents to satisfy our Anti-Money Laundering procedures. Failure to comply with any request for such documents may result in the cancellation of services. For further information please read our ID Requirements
• As a Company Service Provider we have a responsibility to carry out due diligence checks from time to time on our customers (companies, officers and shareholders) to which we provide ongoing services. Should any of our checks result in the discovery of illegal or unethical activities, we reserve the right to terminate services without notice and without refund.
• We also have an obligation to meet the requirements of ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) and you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire on the business activity or activities of your company and the reason for your business relationship with TheCompanies.

2.5 Company formation process

• TheCompanies is an expert online company formation service, using a safe electronic filing system through Companies House. Therefore, when you record your company via TheCompanies, you are automatically granting us permission to file your information with Companies House (the UK Registrar of Companies) on your behalf.
• Once you are compliant with the various regulations required for company formation, the registration will be completed by Companies House between the hours of 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, and should normally take three to six working hours. Please note that sometimes this will take up to 24 hours and, as this is dependent on the project load of Companies House, the length of time it takes to complete company formation is not under our control and will vary.
• There is no certainty that applications for company formation will be accepted on the same business day of your request. To ensure that your application does get accepted on the same day, it is suggested that you purchase the Guaranteed Same-Day Service. This can be purchased as an extra service Monday to Friday, and this request must be made before 3pm.
• If you omit information, provide incorrect information, or further information is required from you to enable us to submit your company application to Companies House, we will make multiple attempts to contact you to get the information we require. In the event we do not receive the information we require to enable us to submit your company application to Companies House within 7 calendar days, we reserve the right to remove your company application information from our system after 7 calendar days have passed.

3. What you will obtain upon company formation

3.1 Company formation service

• Companies House will send confirmation once your company has been successfully incorporated. On immediate receipt of this, your new limited company or limited liability partnership will then be open for business.
• The Certificate of Incorporation, as well as any other formal certification and facilities that you have acquired from TheCompanies, will be sent to you.

3.2 Optional secretarial services and products

• TheCompanies provides you with the choice to purchase further goods and services, along with what is outlined above. These added extras vary and will depend on the type of incorporation package you order. The following list of products and services summarises some of the options:
  • Registered office service
  • Business Bank Account
  • Confirmation Statement Preparation and Filing Service
  • Service Address
  • VAT and PAYE Registration
  • Business Address with Mail Forwarding
  • Business telephony services
  • Apostilled document service
  • Full company secretary service
• Additional purchases, such as the list above, can be made before or after the incorporation process of your company.
• For Confirmation Statement Services, our company will send the customer an email requesting information regarding the company details, to allow us to file the confirmation statement. Where the customer does not provide the information requested, a confirmation statement will not be filed. Our company is not responsible for a confirmation statement not being filed for this reason.

4. Services we do not provide with any product

• The below are not part of our services and cannot be found in any of our product or packages on our Website:
  • Tax guidance
  • Bookkeeping, auditing and any form of accounting or advisory services
  • Filing of annual accounts (not including dormant company accounts)
  • Legal guidance
  • Information concerning the appropriateness or suitability of any company you may acquire from us for your proposed purposes
  • Advice regarding the suitability or adequacy of any company you may purchase from us for your intended purposes.
  • Any services not explicitly listed above
• Prior to registering a company with TheCompanies, we advise that you seek professional and autonomous advice before you make any purchase.

5. Conditions of our company address services

• By purchasing a Registered Office and/or Service Address from us, you agree to opt-in to our Digital Mailroom Service, where all official government mail from UK government agencies and Court documents will be received at our address, securely opened and scanned by our mail handling equipment and forwarded to you by email (with the exception of cheques from official government bodies, which will be sent to your forwarding address by post). A digital copy of your mail will be available for you to view and download, in your TheCompanies customer account area on our website. Original copies of said mail will be securely held for 7 days, during which time, you will be able to ask for them to be sent to you by Royal Mail post. After the expiry of 7 days, unclaimed mail will be securely destroyed.
• Upon purchase of a Registered Office service from us, you will be provided with a mail forwarding service for official government mail from UK government bodies and Court documents. This address service also allows you to satisfy your company’s legal obligations as per s.86 of the Companies Act 2006. This address service does not allow you to use our address as a trading address, and our address must not be used as the Principal Place of Business when registering for VAT.
• Upon purchase of a Service Address service from us, you will be provided with a mail forwarding service for official government mail from UK government bodies and Court documents. This address service also allows you to satisfy your company’s legal obligations as per s.1141 of the Companies Act 2006. This address service does not allow you to use our address as a trading address, and our address must not be used as the Principal Place of Business when registering for VAT.
• Upon purchase of a Business Address service from us, you will be provided with a mail forwarding service for senders of mail other than those government agencies which are covered only by our Registered Office and Service Address services. This address service does not allow you to use our address as a trading address, and our address must not be used as the Principal Place of Business when registering for VAT.
• Any Registered Office or Service Address that you acquire from TheCompanies whereby you have not registered for an account needs to be updated through Companies House. It is your responsibility to update any of your address information with Companies House so that it goes on public record.
• In the instances where you acquire our address services package as part of your company formation, or if you construct an account with us beforehand, we will then modify your Registered Office or Service Address details at Companies House.
• Any address service that is acquired from TheCompanies means that you are granting us permission to handle your mail, where we accept, sort and forward all of the mail for you. We shall not be responsible for any losses incurred due to any act, omission, neglect, or delay by us, or our employees or agents, in the process of receiving, sorting and forwarding mail on your behalf.
• The onus is not on us for mail that does not get distributed to our offices. Once any received mail has been handed to our courier (Royal Mail) to be forwarded, we are no longer liable.
• To forward general business mail that is non-statutory, you will need to purchase the Business Address Service package – we will not accept it otherwise.
• You must renew the fee for your Service Address on time, either on or before its renewal date. Failure to pay for the renewal of a Service Address on time, or provide the required ID, will result in the address being irreversibly changed to your residential address or other address that you have supplied to TheCompanies. If you are not resident in the UK, and do not have access to a UK address to use for this purpose, we will request the removal of our address from the public record at Companies House via form RP07. This change of address goes on public record and will be registered at Companies House.
• You must renew payment for your Registered Office Address on time, either on or before its renewal date. Failure to pay for the renewal of a Registered Office Address on time, or provide the required ID, will result in the address being irreversibly changed to your residential address or other address that you have supplied to TheCompanies. If you are not resident in the UK, and do not have access to a UK address to use for this purpose, we will request the removal of our address from the public record at Companies House via form RP07. This change of address goes on public record and will be registered at Companies House.
• In the event that we believe you have tarnished or caused a substantial threat to our business or reputation, we have the right to revoke any address service immediately. We will remove our address from public record at Companies House, whereby it will change to your domestic or otherwise provided address. This change of address goes on public record and will be registered at Companies House.
• An address service is for the use of one company only. If you require using our address services for more than one company, you must purchase a separate service for each company.
• After purchase of our Business Address Service, you will be provided with a delivery method option by email. You may choose from our scan and email delivery option or our mail forwarding by post delivery option. If you do not make a choice, your mail forwarding option will be set to mail forwarding by post by default.
• Regarding our Business Address Service, a maximum of one trading name can be used per address service, however, this name cannot be a trading name for another limited company, neither can it be another limited company name. Mail will only be forwarded for trading names where prior confirmation has been received by the customer from ourselves. Any mail for trading names whereby customers have not received prior confirmation will be returned to sender on the day we receive it.
• We provide a parcel handling service. A parcel is defined by Royal Mail as an item weighing over 750 grams; or has dimensions larger than 353mm x 250mm in size. However, we will not handle or accept any item larger than 500mm x 500 in dimension, or which weighs more than 5 kilograms. This is enforced because we do not have the ability to store large items due to spatial constrictions.
• Mail returned to our offices which has been sent to the customer’s forwarding address will go through the following process: The customer will be contacted to confirm the forwarding address. A free scan and email will be offered to all customers who have had returned mail. However, should the customer wish for their mail to be sent to them by post once again, a charge of Royal Mail postal rates + 15% will be applied. Only in an instance where we conclude we have made an error in the forwarding of a customer’s mail, will mail be forwarded by post free of charge.
• Regarding our Digital Business Address service, any item of mail containing an item larger than A4 size, or any mail containing a bank card, cheque or other item of value, will be forwarded to you by post. Royal Mail postal rates plus 15% handling fee are charged for mail forwarding.
• With regards to our Digital Business Address Service, original copies of your mail will be stored securely for 7 calendar days. During this period, you will be able to request these original copies are forwarded to you. All mail forwarded by request will incur a charge of Royal Mail postal rates plus 15%. Once 7 calendar days have passed, any original copies of mail which have been unclaimed will be destroyed securely.
• If we forward mail to you by courier, we will require taking payment in advance. A receipted invoice will be raised and forwarded to you immediately after payment is taken. The acceptance of these Terms and Conditions means you are granting us authority to take payment using your payment card details stored on our system. In the event the cost to forward an item by courier is substantial, we may contact you to seek your approval before processing the item. Please note: Our 15% handling fee also applies to courier deliveries.
• With regards forwarding parcels, packets, letters by Royal Mail Special Delivery, International Signed For, International Tracked, and International Tracked & Signed, we may require taking payment in advance. A receipted invoice will be raised and forwarded to you immediately after payment is taken. The acceptance of these Terms and Conditions means you are granting us authority to take payment using your payment card details stored on our system.
• In the event we are unable to deliver an item of mail or where advance payment is required and we are unable to take advance payment, we will contact you by email, telephone or post and request your assistance. If we do not receive a response within 30 days we reserve the right to return the item to sender or dispose of it, as appropriate.
• If a customer possesses a negative account balance, the company reserves the right to hold items of mail received for any and all of our address services from being forwarded to the customer, until the account balance owed to us is paid. Mail held due to a negative account balance will be held for 30 days. If the customer has not paid the money owed within 30 days, the item of mail will be either returned to sender, or destroyed in an instance where we would incur charges to return the item of mail to the sender. The customer will be notified by email when an item of mail is held due to a negative account balance.
• When a customer purchases a Service Address or Registered Office Service from our company, it is the customer’s responsibility to ensure the correct address is showing on Companies House for the company’s service address(es) or registered office address. In an instance whereby an address service is not purchased as part of a company formation package, our company accepts no liability for updating the customer’s company’s service address or registered office address at Companies House.
• With regards to our Business Address Service, in instances where a parcel is received for a customer and the assigned forwarding address is outside of the United Kingdom, the customer agrees to allow the company to open the parcel to ascertain an estimated value of its contents, before the parcel is resealed, to enable us to complete the required CN22 customers form to send a parcel outside of the United Kingdom. Where we cannot accurately estimate the value of the contents of the parcel, we agree to contact the customer to request the value of its contents. We will only forward the parcel upon receiving a response from the customer. Should the customer not respond to our request within 30 days, we will return the parcel to the sender.
• In order to ensure companies using our address services are complying with The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, customers should make sure our registered office address is not provided to third parties for business purposes, in instances where they do not possess an active Business Address Service. Mail items received for companies which have an active Service Address or Registered Office Address where they do not also have an active Business Address Service, where the mail is not covered by their active address services, will be sent to the customer via scan and email to the customer’s primary email address. The charge for this will be £30.00 plus VAT per item scanned. If an item cannot be scanned due to size or for another reason, it will be sent to the forwarding address we possess for the active address service(s) at the cost of £30.00 plus VAT per item, plus Royal Mail postal charge and 15% mail handling fee.

6. Full Company Secretary Service

• The services provided annually shall consist of the following:
  • Appointment of TheCompanies Secretaries as secretary of your company.
  • Maintenance of your company’s statutory registers (Register of Members, Register of Directors, Register of Directors Usual Residential Address, Register of Secretaries, Register of People with Significant Control, and Register of Charges).
  • Completion of the company secretarial documentation and Companies House filings for up to three transactions per calendar year. The transactions this includes are:
    • Change of Registered Office address
    • Change of Accounting Reference Date
    • Change of Company Name
    • Director Appointment or Resignation
    • Secretary Appointment or Resignation
    • Transfer of Shares (1 – 2 Shareholders)
    • Issue of Shares (1 – 2 Shareholders)
• We will continue providing the services for a period of 12 months and it will be renewed automatically (unless you choose not to renew the service) at a price of £449.95 +VAT. A notice of renewal email will be sent to you prior to the renewal date. Where services are not renewed (or otherwise terminated) we will issue a letter of disengagement, a final copy of your statutory registers and we will resign TheCompanies Secretaries Limited from your company.
• This service does not negate the statutory obligations of the directors of your company under the Companies Act 2006. It remains the responsibility of the directors of your company to ensure that all statutory registers are a true and accurate representation of your company’s position.
• It is your responsibility to ensure that we are informed of all transactions or changes that occur to your company, and that all required information pertaining to said transactions or changes, that occur to your company that necessitate the statutory registers to be amended.
• If we do not receive the required information, or are not told of changes that have occurred to your company, we will not be responsible for any delay caused as a result. If additional work is required to correct or compensate for a mistake made as a result of incomplete or otherwise incorrect information or action on your part, we may charge you a reasonable additional sum for that work.
• If we require any information or action from you in order to provide our services, we will inform you of this as soon as is reasonably possible.
• We reserve the right to resign TheCompanies Secretaries Limited as an officer of your company, and to withdraw or suspend our services without disclosing our reason for doing so.
• In instances where the company’s confirmation statement is overdue and we have not received any communication from the customer, we will submit the confirmation statement to Companies House based on the information we hold on file. If the customer informs us after the submission that the information filed was incomplete or incorrect, we can arrange the submission of a second filing of the confirmation statement, subject to an additional fee which will be confirmed beforehand.

7. Business Telephone services

• Telephone numbers provided as part of a Business Telephone Number or Call Answering + Business Telephone Services are not owned by us. Any requests to port or use the telephone number provided with the above services should be made directly to the telecoms company who owns the telephone number.

8. Value of goods and services

• On our Website, all prices of products and services are listed beneath the respective item that you choose. Each listed price excludes VAT at the principal rate on the purchase date, unless specified.
• Your shopping cart will show the total purchase price including VAT (where applicable before you checkout.
• TheCompanies has the right to change or modify prices displayed on the Site, of any products and services without warning or reason. We endeavour to display accurate prices at all times, but where significant faults are made, the operation will be cancelled and you will be provided with a full reimbursement.
• TheCompanies reserves the right to change, update or remove products and services displayed on the Site, without warning or reason.
• We will not be held responsible to individuals due to the removal or alteration any products that we offer, or for refusing or failing to process an order.

9. Continuous payment authorisation

• In accordance of these Terms and Conditions, you agree to continued payment authorisation on the card that was previously registered to purchase the initial services (or other, if applicable). Continued payment will be received for:
  • Renewable services – outstanding payments will be issued on the initial debit or credit card that was used to acquire the service (or on a different card, if provided on the expiration date. Customers will be told in advance of this date before payment is taken, and you reserve the right to terminate this renewal service.
  • Mail forwarding services – the stamp price and control costs will be issued on the initial debit or credit card used to acquire the service (or on a different card, if provided). However, this will occur automatically each month.
• The overall cost of your items will comprise the price of the product or service, along with the required VAT (relevant on purchase date).

10. Fraud prevention

• In accepting these Terms and Conditions, you are permitting us to work with CreditSafe or similar organisation to undergo necessary checks in order to verify your identity and address. Throughout this process, CreditSafe or similar organisation could compare your personal details with data from public or other databases that they are able to scan. In the future, they may use your information to help other companies prevent fraud. All data searches will be tracked and recorded.

11. Bank Account referral service

• In applying for a bank account through our referral service, you are giving permission for us to send your details to the bank. Also, you are confirming that the bank will contact you directly in order for the bank account request to be processed.
• On requesting a bank account via our referral service in support of a third-party application for a company formation, you are confirming that the third party is in agreement. The third party must acknowledge and accept that their details will be sent to the bank on their behalf, and that they will be contacted directly in order for the bank account request to be processed.
• All business bank accounts are opened and managed by the respective banks. The various details of the accounts are set out by the banks and dependent on the terms and conditions that exist at the time of the account opening.
• TheCompanies cannot confirm whether a bank account request will be granted, as all business bank accounts are contingent on the status of the individual applicant.

12. Domain .co.uk

• Any domain name with co.uk that has a 1-year registration with us will cost £0.00 when the voucher code is used.
• The initial billing period will benefit from discounted prices, but these will not apply to renewal purchases.
• This offer needs to be used within 30 days. It is not valid when used alongside any other offers.
• We has the right to remove this offer at any time. The offer can only be used once by a customer – read the standard terms and conditions for more information.

13. Trustpilot

• In order to retain clarity and build the trust between a customer and a business, Trustpilot collects consumer evaluations and helps TheCompanies better understand its customers’ needs. By voicing your opinion and adding to the hub of customer evaluations, you can help develop a more satisfied online shopping community and improve peoples’ experiences.
• Each of our patrons has the opportunity to evaluate their experience on our Site through the use of Trustpilot. In doing so, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions where your personal data i.e. name, email address and order number will be sent to Trustpilot. This is only temporary so that you can receive an invite to write the review. Trustpilot will not store or share this data.

14. Refund policy

14.1 Company formation orders

• You will be reimbursed if you change your mind about your purchase; however, refunds will only be given to customers who request a refund in writing, before the company application has been submitted to Companies House, provided the request is received within 14 days of the date of purchase.
• As soon as your company application has been sent to Companies House, we cannot grant you with a refund for the company formation package or any of its aspects. This no refund rule also applies in the event that your application is turned down.

14.2 Address service orders

• The following policies outline what happens when you change your mind after purchasing one (or more company address service), whether it be a Registered Office, Service Address, or Business Address/Mail Forwarding Service:
  • If your order has not already been processed and your address service(s) set up, you will be entitled to a refund of the full payment amount, as long as the notice to cancel is provided within 14 calendar days of the date of purchase. A refund will not be provided for cancellation requests made over 14 calendar days from the purchase date.
  • If your order has already been processed and your address service(s) set up, you will be entitled to a refund of the payment amount, minus a £30.00 + VAT administration charge per address service, as long as the notice of cancellation is provided within 14 calendar days from the date of purchase. A refund will not be provided for cancellation requests made over 14 calendar days from the purchase date. The administration charge covers the cost of setting the service up, the cost of processing the order, and any other associated costs.
  • The customer or ourselves has the right to terminate an address service by providing, in writing, a full calendar months’ notice.
  • Where a refund request is made for an address service within 14 calendar days of the date of purchase, but your company is still using our address on Companies House for more than 14 calendar days after the date of purchase, the address service will be judged to have been used, and you will not be eligible for a refund.

14.3 Other secretarial services and products

• If you change your mind about acquiring a supplementary product or service, you will be granted a complete reimbursement, so long as we have not processed the order and that the cancellation notice is given within 14 calendar days from the purchase date. No reimbursement will be provided if the notice exceeds this period, or if we have already started working on the order.
• No refund will be provided if we require cancelling an additional product or service (e.g. business telephone service) due to a failure to supply proof of ID and proof of address as required by our terms and conditions, to ensure we fulfil our obligations regarding the current Anti-Money Laundering regulations and Know Your Customer requirements.