Before deep diving into the process to change a company address and the time it is going to take, we must understand the meaning of company. A company is nothing but a business which generates profits. For the Companies to work under legal pressure, an act called the Companies Act, 2013 was brought into play by the law makers. It does not allow any member of the company to commit fraud. It keeps a check on company workings. A newly formed company surely has to occupy some place for carrying out its daily workings. This place is nothing but its office Address. Companies can be of many types like Private Limited Company registration, OPC, LLP etc. Let us understand the concept of change a company address in detail with the help of the present writeup.
What do you Mean by Registered Address?
There are certain factors which help to identify a person such as his/her name, occupation and address. Similarly, a company too is identified by its name, work and address. In short, the address of a company is the location where its daily workings and meetings take place. If the Government or the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) wants to convey or serve anything to the company, having an official place becomes a great necessity. This official place is the registered office of the company.
The registered office of a company is its main office among all other offices (if any). After deciding the exact location or address of such an office, the Company is supposed to register itself with the MCA which is the abbreviation of Ministry of Corporate Affairs. This has to be done in 30 days from the formation of the company. Section 12 of the Companies Act, 2013 gives every explanation about the Registered Office. It is also very important to give the office the name of the company so that it becomes easy to identify.
Why is the Registered Office Address Important?
Now, just imagine that “Z”, a businessman, forms his Company called “ABC Ltd”, however does not have any office. And a Government Department is willing to send ABC Ltd an official letter or a notice. How can this be done? It becomes impossible for the department to communicate with ABC Ltd, without knowing its location. Therefore, in order to reduce such issues, a registered office address is a must. Here, ABC ltd is free to have as many offices as it wishes. However, the main office details should be in records of the MCA which is the abbreviation of Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Procedure to Change a Company Address through MCA
It is obvious that a company cannot have its registered office in the same place forever. Changes in its location can be due to many reasons such as congested offices etc. There can be some possibilities of a company facing some problems in its present address. The question which arises here is that, once the registered office of the company is registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, can it be altered? The answer to this question is that, Yes it can be changed. The step by step procedure to change the registered office address is given below. Form INC 22 is used in order to change the registered office of a company. The process of filling it is given below:
- Open the Ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) official website.
- Sign-in or in case of new user Register.
- Go to MCA services, and under “My Application” and “Company e-filing”, select “Change service” and Form INC 22.
- Fill all the details of the form carefully
- Attach all the documents asked to be attached by the department
- Check the complete form once it is completed
- After checking it twice submit it before the competent authorities
- Now the authorities will verify your application to change a company address
- After the successful verification your company address may be changes as per your request
Types of Changes in the Registered Office
When a company decides to change a company address, it is obvious that the new location can be in a different city, state or under different ROC. The possible change of locations are given below:
Change Within a City
For e.g. change from one colony to another colony, will fall under the first type of change in a company address. In order to change a company address the very first thing one needs to do is to pass board resolution in the meeting of the directors and a notice has to be given to the Registrar of Companies (ROC) within 30 days of changing a company address .
Change Within a State
For e.g. change from one city to another city within a state. This type of change comes under the second kind of change in the registered address of the company. For this as well the company needs to pass the board resolution in the meeting of the directors and a notice has to be given to the Registrar of Companies (ROC) within 30 days from the such change in the registered address of the company.
Change within States who have different ROC
This is a big change in the registered address of the company as the Registrar of the Companies is also going to change. Hence for such kinds of changes you need to do all the formalities properly. First, a Special Resolution has to be passed in the meeting of the directors and after that permission of the Regional Director needs to be obtained. Here, notices have to be served to the Regional Director and ROC within 30 days respectively. Evidence showing that the special resolution was passed and notices were given, must be maintained properly.
Change within Country
In order to make such changes in the registered address of the company a special resolution has to be passed in the meeting of the directors. After that, asking permission from the Central Government is a must. To get the permission, notice has to be given to it within 60 days, after which the Central Government has to revert back to the notice in the next 30 days. After successfully completing the above mentioned procedures, a new or fresh Certificate of Incorporation will be issued to the company which will contain the new address of the office. From then on, all official communication will be made to the new address.
Give Notice to Change a Company Address
While filling FORM INC 22, a notice mentioning the change in the company address and a verification of the same have to be submitted. Moreover, payment of a certain amount of fees in addition to the form is mandatory. There are some kinds of documents too, which have to be submitted with the form. Those are given below:
- Document conveying that the title of the new place where the registered office is located, is in the name of the company or
- if in case the office is on rent or lease, then a copy of its agreement and a rent paid receipt which shows that rent is paid regularly by the company. It must be noted that the rent paid receipt must be recent one (not older than one month)
- Ownership proof, if the company is the owner itself or authorization from current occupant, if the place is occupied by some other person.
- Any address proof such as electricity bill, gas bill etc. which acts as an evidence that the place belongs to the owner. It must be noted that the address proof must be the recent one (i.e., not older than two months).
How Much Time it takes to Change a Company Address?
There is no exact time period given anywhere which is needed to change a company address. When it comes to change a company address or registered office address from one locality in a city to another, then a maximum of 10-15 days are required. However, the span increases when change of address is made from one state to another or from jurisdiction of one ROC to another. Hence it is not possible to give exact figures about the time taken to change a company address. There are various types of changes which can be done in a company’s registered address. Some of them are discussed above and as per the changes time will also change. But yes, it can be said that any type of change in a company address will at least take 10-15 days and maximum it can be 1-2 months as well.
Conclusion
By concluding the above writeup it can be said that, it is mandatory for any company to have a proper and exact address of its registered office, in order for any department to send and receive notices and letters. This address of the company has to be registered with the ROC. Moreover, any change in a company address is also supposed to be informed to the ROC, so as to make changes in their records, so that further communication with the company becomes easy. The process to change a company address of the registered office of the company is not a lengthy one. An e-form has to be filled in addition to some documents showing that the place of the office is legally occupied by the company. This is how you can change a company address.
