Playbook: Change the registered address

When you meet it

A company moves office, switches to a co-working space, changes registered-office provider, or a CSP consolidates client addresses onto its own premises. Any of these means the company's registered office — the address ACRA and the public register show — has to change.

Legal basis

There is no single Companies Act section dedicated to the registered office itself, so this playbook does not cite one. What is settled is the filing mechanics: event-driven changes like this are generally lodged with ACRA within 14 days of the effective date.

Separately, if the new registered office is a residential address — an HDB flat or a private residence — it may need approval under the HDB Home Office Scheme or from URA before it can be used as a registered office. This is a practical check, not a quoted statute; treat it as general guidance and verify against the current HDB/URA rules for the specific address.

The standard steps (offline)

• Confirm the new address and the effective date.
• If the address is residential, check whether HDB Home Office Scheme or URA approval is needed before using it as the registered office.
• Record the change internally (board note or CSP file note).
• Lodge the change of registered office with ACRA within 14 days of the effective date.
• Update letterhead, invoices, and any other place the registered address is printed.

Before you start — prerequisites, materials & parties

• Prerequisites: the client's CDD is passed; the new address confirmed with its effective date; and, if the address is residential, the HDB Home Office Scheme / URA position checked before it is used.
• Materials: proof of the new address / right to use it (e.g. tenancy or the registered-office provider's consent), and any HDB/URA approval reference where the address is residential.
• Parties: the company / directors, the new registered-office provider or landlord, and — for a home office — HDB or URA. The registered office must be an address at which the company can receive communications, open during required hours.

Common pitfalls & edge cases

• Using a residential address without approval. An HDB flat or private residence used as a registered office may need HDB Home Office Scheme / URA approval first. Using it without checking is the most common trap here.
• A P.O. box or a co-working "virtual" address that does not qualify. The registered office must be a real address where communications can be received during required hours — confirm the arrangement actually qualifies.
• Registered-office provider consent missing. If you are moving the client onto a provider's address (often the CSP's own), make sure that provider has agreed to act as the registered office.
• Forgetting the downstream updates. The registered address appears on letterhead, invoices, contracts and other filings. Changing it at ACRA but nowhere else leaves inconsistent records.
• Confusing registered office with business address. They can differ. Changing where the business operates does not by itself change the registered office, and vice versa.

Timing & sequence

• Confirm the new address (and any HDB/URA approval) → record the change → file with ACRA within 14 days of the effective date → update the register and everywhere the address is printed.
• The 14-day ACRA window is the one hard deadline; the housing-scheme check comes before the address is used, not after filing.

In CorpSec AI

The workflow keeps the housing-scheme check and the ACRA deadline from being missed.

1. Create the taskIn the left panel click + New task, choose the company, and pick the address-change task type. Give the new address and the effective date.
2. Confirm the new addressIf the address is residential, CorpSec AI prompts you to check the HDB Home Office Scheme / URA position before proceeding — a practical check, not an automatic approval.
3. Let the AI draft the recordThe AI drafts the internal note recording the change of registered office. Review it in the Document tab; select text and comment to adjust anything.
4. File with ACRA (within 14 days)The filing step records the lodgement of the change with ACRA. It is deadline-aware and tracks the 14-day window from the effective date.
5. Update the registerThe data-update step updates the company's registered-office field. Once every step is done, the task status flips to Done automatically, and the change is in the Activity log.