Companies are sometimes in a great haste to expand to new horizons, but unfortunately forget that there are some very necessary administration aspects that should be attended to before they expand further, one of these necessary administrative aspects to look at is a company’s registered address.
A company`s registered address is very important, as it is the address where any legal documents can be served on the company. The ‘‘registered office’’ of a company, means the office of a company, or of an external company, that is registered as required by section 23 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008;
By law, a company has to ensure that this information is up to date. According to the Companies Act 71 of 2008, the registered address of the company may not be that of the company`s auditor. A company thus has the legal obligation to maintain and uphold their information, as well as registering the said information at the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC). Where a company has more than one office, the principal office must be registered at the CIPC.
In the event of failure to comply with the above, a company may be liable for a fine or prosecution. A company may even face the risk of having a judgement granted against it by default without it even being aware of the proceedings instituted against it, due to not having its information updated. It is thus of upmost importance to have this crucial information updated to avoid these unexpected risks.
Article by JP Louw (Associate)
