---
title: "Defective service and the Companies House default address"
url: https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/defective-service-and-the-companies-house-default-address/
date: 2026-11-10
modified: 2026-11-10
lang: en
author: "Winding-up Petition Lawyer"
description: "A winding-up petition served on a company whose registered office has been moved to a Companies House default address is validly served only if it is deposited at or about that address in the way paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 4 to the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 describes. Handing it to someone who says they will accept it, or posting it as section 1139(1) of the Companies Act 2006 would allow for other documents, does not satisfy the code, and a petition served that way is liable to be struck out. A creditor who gets this wrong has to start again, and a company that has been moved to a default address without noticing cannot assume a petition will ever reach it."
categories:
  - "Companies House"
  - "Creditors"
  - "Debt Recovery"
  - "HMRC"
  - "Insolvency"
  - "Insolvency Litigation"
  - "Winding-Up Petitions"
tags:
  - "Companies House default address"
  - "default registered office"
  - "defective service"
  - "Registered Office Address (Rectification of Register) Regulations 2024"
  - "rule 12.64 formal defects"
  - "rule 7.10 notice of petition"
  - "rule 7.12 certificate of compliance"
  - "rule 7.9 Insolvency Rules 2016"
  - "Schedule 4 paragraph 2 Insolvency Rules 2016"
  - "section 1139 Companies Act 2006"
  - "section 127 insolvency act 1986"
  - "section 129 Insolvency Act 1986"
  - "section 86 Companies Act 2006"
  - "service of petition"
  - "strike out of petition"
  - "winding-up petition"
image: https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/UK-Companies-House-Winding-Up-Paperwork-1024x683.png
word_count: 2681
---

# Defective service and the Companies House default address

**A winding-up petition served on a company whose registered office has been moved to a Companies House default address is validly served only if it is deposited at or about that address in the way paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 4 to the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 describes. Handing it to someone who says they will accept it, or posting it as section 1139(1) of the Companies Act 2006 would allow for other documents, does not satisfy the code, and a petition served that way is liable to be struck out. A creditor who gets this wrong has to start again, and a company that has been moved to a default address without noticing cannot assume a petition will ever reach it.**

Two groups ask this question. Creditors and their advisers have a petition ready and find that the register shows a default address. Directors have just been told by a bank or a customer that their company has been moved to one. Both tend to expect an answer that is either entirely safe or entirely hopeless. The accurate answer is narrower: valid service is still possible, but only by one route, and the petitioner has to be able to prove it. We deal with the mechanics generally in our guidance on [how to serve a winding-up petition](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/how-to-serve-a-winding-up-petition/), and with the company's side in our page on [opposing a winding-up petition](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/opposing-a-winding-up-petition/).

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## What a Companies House default address is

The registrar may change a company's registered office to a default address when satisfied that the current address is not an appropriate one. Under section 86(2) of the Companies Act 2006 an address is appropriate if, in the ordinary course of events, a document delivered there by hand or by post would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company, and delivery there is capable of being recorded by an acknowledgement. Regulation 3 of the Registered Office Address (Rectification of Register) Regulations 2024 allows the registrar to nominate as a default address a place where the registrar carries out functions, or a PO box. Our [winding-up petition timeline](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/winding-up-petition-timeline-what-creditors-and-debtors-need-to-know-in-2025/) shows where service sits in the life of a petition.

A default address is therefore a place where mail can be left, not a place where anyone has agreed to receive it for the company. A company can be moved there after a 14-day notice that it never saw, or, under regulation 10, without a notice period at all. Creditors of every kind meet this, and we see it in [HMRC winding-up petitions](https://lexlaw.co.uk/practice-areas/winding-up-petitions-solicitors-london/hmrc-petition-winding-up/), where our tax team explains the creditor's side in its own guidance on [HMRC winding-up petitions and statutory demands](https://taxdisputes.co.uk/hmrc-winding-up-petitions/).

## What paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 requires

Rule 7.9(2) requires a petitioner who is not the company to serve a sealed copy of the petition on the company in accordance with Schedule 4. Paragraph 2(1) says the petition must be served at the registered office by handing it to a person at that address who acknowledges being a director, other officer or employee of the company, who is believed to be one to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person serving, or who acknowledges being authorised to accept service on the company's behalf. Paragraph 2(2) covers the case where there is no such person: the petition may be served by depositing it at or about the registered office in such a way that it is "likely to come to the notice of a person attending the office". We summarise the same code in our guidance on [how to serve a winding-up petition](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/how-to-serve-a-winding-up-petition/).

Paragraph 1(2) applies Part 6 of the Civil Procedure Rules to service except where the Schedule provides otherwise, and paragraph 2 is the Schedule providing otherwise for petitions. We treat it as a self-contained code for serving a petition on a company and not as one option among several. Our [winding-up petition lawyers](https://lexlaw.co.uk/winding-up-petition-lawyers/) check the service evidence first in a contested petition.

## Why section 1139 of the Companies Act does not rescue the petition

Section 1139(1) of the Companies Act 2006 says a document may be served on a company by leaving it at, or sending it by post to, its registered office. Read alone that looks generous, and a creditor who relies on it will say the petition was left at the registered office, which happens to be the default address. We read paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 as the specific provision for petitions, displacing the general section, and the most recent High Court authority we have seen on the point takes the same view. A petition left or posted in some other way is not served merely because section 1139(1) would allow that for another document. Overseas companies differ, because section 1139(2) governs them, as our page on [serving a petition outside the UK](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/service-of-a-winding-up-petition-outside-the-uk/) explains.

## How to serve at a default address in practice

At a default address nobody is a director, officer, employee or authorised person of the company, so paragraph 2(1) has nothing to attach to. The route left is paragraph 2(2): deposit the petition at or about the default address so that it is likely to come to the notice of a person attending, which in practice means using whatever drop-off point the registrar provides for that address, and keeping evidence of when, where and how it was done. We would not rely on a statement by Companies House staff or any other third party that they accept service for the company. They are not acting for the company, and we do not think they can be authorised in the way paragraph 2(1)(c) requires. Our [winding-up petitions solicitors in London](https://lexlaw.co.uk/practice-areas/winding-up-petitions-solicitors-london/) page describes how we approach service on instruction.

The evidence matters as much as the act. Rule 7.12 requires the petitioner to file a certificate of compliance at least five business days before the hearing, stating the date or dates on which the petition was served and notice of it was given. The process server's note of what was done at the default address is the document the court will test, and the same certificate covers the [advertisement of the winding-up petition](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/advertisement-of-winding-up-petition-form-4-6-download-template/), which has its own timing rules.

## When serving at the registered office is not practicable

Paragraph 2(3) provides a different route where it is not practicable to serve at the registered office, where the company has no registered office, or where it is unregistered. Paragraph 2(4) then allows the petition to be left at the company's last known principal place of business in England and Wales in a way likely to come to the attention of a person attending there, or to be served on the secretary or a director, manager or principal officer wherever that person is found. Whether a default address makes service at the registered office "not practicable" is a point we would not leave to chance. A creditor who relies on paragraph 2(3) should be ready to explain why paragraph 2(2) was unavailable and why it chose the person or place it did, and our [guide to serving a petition](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/how-to-serve-a-winding-up-petition/) is where we set out the choices.

## Can rule 12.64 cure a defect in service?

Rule 12.64 provides that no insolvency proceedings will be invalidated by any formal defect or irregularity unless the court considers that substantial injustice has been caused which cannot be remedied by an order. Creditors sometimes cite it where the company in fact learned of the petition, but we would not build a petition on it. Service is how the company comes before the court, and where a petition has been served by a method the code does not allow, the company can say it never received the notice the code is designed to give, which is hard to describe as a merely formal defect. The practical test is set out in our pages on [winding-up petition hearing representation](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/winding-up-petition-hearing-representation/) and on [the consequences of early advertisement](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/consequences-of-the-abuse-of-process-of-early-advertisement-of-winding-up-petitions/).

## Defective service delays a creditor but does not end the debt

A petition struck out for defective service does not extinguish what is owed. The creditor can serve and present a fresh petition at the cost of delay and expense, and the company is not discharged from anything. If the underlying debt is not genuinely disputed, we advise using the time to deal with it, and a company that pays before the hearing faces a different set of consequences, which we describe in our page on [what happens if a winding-up petition is paid before the hearing](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/what-happens-if-a-winding-up-petition-is-paid-before-the-hearing/).

Where service failed because an adviser did not follow the code, the client may ask who should bear the cost of the failed petition. Our professional negligence site explains how a claim against a solicitor works, starting with [suing a negligent solicitor](https://professionalnegligenceclaimsolicitors.co.uk/sue-negligent-solicitor-law-firm/), and the [limitation period in professional negligence claims](https://professionalnegligenceclaimsolicitors.co.uk/limitation-period-in-professional-negligence-claims/) governs how long a claim can wait.

## Why searches on this topic point creditors the wrong way

A search for service at a Companies House address returns three kinds of result: registrar guidance on changing a registered office, general guidance on serving a claim form, where the Civil Procedure Rules apply in the ordinary way, and commentary on HMRC enforcement. None of them answers the petition question, because a petition is served under its own code. A creditor reading claim-form guidance will find that leaving a document at the registered office is enough, which is the wrong reading for a petition. For the HMRC background, see our tax team's explanation of [how an HMRC debt becomes enforceable](https://taxdisputes.co.uk/2026/08/how-an-hmrc-debt-becomes-enforceable/).

Statutory demands cause a different confusion. A company that has dealt with a demand at its address often assumes a petition will arrive the same way, but the demand and the petition are separate steps with separate rules. We explain the demand stage in our pages on how to [set aside a statutory demand](https://lexlaw.co.uk/set-aside-statutory-demand-insolvency-legal-advice/) and on the [HMRC statutory demand](https://taxdisputes.co.uk/hmrc-statutory-demand/).

## Timing: seven business days and a fixed hearing date

Once a petition is presented it runs towards a hearing date. Rule 7.10 requires notice of the petition to be gazetted and to appear not less than seven business days after service on the company and not less than seven business days before the hearing, and rule 7.10(5) allows the court to dismiss a petition if notice is not given as the rule requires. A creditor that serves late at the default address can run out of days, and a company that first sees the Gazette notice has little time left. Our guidance on [restraining advertisement of a winding-up petition](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/restraining-injunctions-against-winding-up-petitions-and-advertisements/) covers what can be done before the notice appears.

A company that finds the notice should check its registered office on the register that day, take advice and, if the petition was never validly served, raise the point at the hearing or earlier. Dispositions need care as well. If a winding-up order is made, section 129(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986 deems the winding up to begin on presentation of the petition, and section 127(1) makes later dispositions of the company's property void unless the court otherwise orders. Our pages on [last-minute hearing representation](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/last-minute-winding-up-petition-hearing-representation/) and on [getting a validation order urgently](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/what-is-a-validation-order-and-how-do-you-get-one-urgently/) explain how that works in practice.

## What a company should do if it has been moved to a default address

Section 86(1) of the Companies Act 2006 requires a company to ensure that its registered office is at all times at an appropriate address, so the first step is to give the registrar a new registered office address that qualifies. Under regulation 6 the registrar must give the company written notice and a 14-day specified period in which to give notice of a new address or to object with evidence, and under regulation 7 the registrar must make the change if the company has done neither and remains of the view that the address is not appropriate. Moving back does not remove the risk of a petition already in progress, so a company should also read our page on [obtaining an injunction to restrain presentation of a winding-up petition](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/obtaining-injunction-restrain-presentation-winding-up-petition/) if it fears one is coming.

## How LEXLAW Can Help

We act for creditors who need a petition served and presented correctly, and for companies and directors facing one. We do not give free advice and we do not act under legal aid, and we generally take on substantial matters, so a small or uncontested debt is unlikely to suit us. We advise whether a petition was validly served, apply to restrain advertisement and appear at the hearing, as our [winding-up petition hearing advocacy](https://lexlaw.co.uk/winding-up-petition-court-hearing-representation-advocacy-solicitors-london/) page describes.

Our lawyers are dual-qualified solicitors and barristers, and our chambers are in Middle Temple, next to the Royal Courts of Justice. We offer a fixed-fee advice conference with both a solicitor and a barrister. To start, complete our [case assessment form](https://windinguppetitionsolicitors.co.uk/legal-case-assessment/).

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### FAQs

Can a winding-up petition be served on Companies House itself?
Companies House is not a person who can accept service for the company, so handing a petition to its staff does not meet paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 4 to the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016. Where the registered office is a default address, the route is paragraph 2(2), which allows the petition to be deposited at or about the address so that it is likely to come to the notice of a person attending. The petitioner should record how and when that was done for the certificate under rule 7.12.

Is posting the petition to the default address valid service?
Section 1139(1) of the Companies Act 2006 allows a document to be served on a company by sending it by post to its registered office, but a petition is governed by paragraph 2 of Schedule 4, which refers to handing it over or depositing it. We would not treat posting as service of a petition. A petitioner who posts it should assume that the company may later say it was not served.

What if the company trades from a different address?
Paragraph 2(3)(a) applies where it is not practicable to serve at the registered office, and paragraph 2(4) then permits leaving the petition at the last known principal place of business in England and Wales, or serving the secretary or a director, manager or principal officer wherever found. A petitioner using this route should record why service at the registered office was not practicable.

How does a company end up with a default address?
The registrar may change the address where satisfied that it is not an appropriate address within section 86(2) of the Companies Act 2006. Regulation 6 of the Registered Office Address (Rectification of Register) Regulations 2024 provides a 14-day notice period, and regulation 10 allows the change without one.

Can rule 12.64 save a petition that was served badly?
Rule 12.64 saves proceedings from a formal defect or irregularity unless substantial injustice has been caused that an order cannot remedy. We would not rely on it to rescue a petition served by a method paragraph 2 does not allow, because the company is then denied the notice the code provides.

Can the creditor present another petition if the first is struck out?
Defective service goes to the validity of the petition and not to the debt, so a creditor can serve and present a fresh petition, serving it again under paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 and giving notice under rule 7.10. The company gains time, not a discharge.

When does a winding up start if an order is made?
Under section 129(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986 a winding up by the court is deemed to commence at the time of presentation of the petition in the cases it covers. Section 127(1) then makes dispositions of the company's property after commencement void unless the court otherwise orders.

How long before the hearing must notice of a petition appear?
Rule 7.10(4) requires notice to appear not less than seven business days after service on the company and not less than seven business days before the hearing. Rule 7.12(1) requires the certificate of compliance to be filed at least five business days before the hearing.