Talk to me about Virtual Offices

Tingtangmakadingdong · 4 Aug 2013 at 15:46

I was wondering if you guys can tell me about virtual offices. I've just started my own business and mainly work from home, I'll be visiting clients other times and so don't really need a physical office for clients to attend.

Can I register my business with companies house at a virtual office? Anyone used such a service in London? What are the things to watch out for?

Jonny · 4 Aug 2013 at 16:42

My old place used to use one in London and you can use the address as your registered address with Companies House (some places charge slightly more for this).

Found it really helpful - the office was completely non-branded as well and you could got x amount of time a month to use the meeting rooms as well.

Let me know any questions and I'll try and help

Tingtangmakadingdong · 4 Aug 2013 at 17:01

Jonny said:
My old place used to use one in London and you can use the address as your registered address with Companies House (some places charge slightly more for this).

Found it really helpful - the office was completely non-branded as well and you could got x amount of time a month to use the meeting rooms as well.

Let me know any questions and I'll try and help

Thanks for reply mate, just read some places charge for Registered Address too. It seems like an ideal solution for my needs and ideally I'd buy a physical place once the business picks up. One other question, some places offer phone service and wondered how that worked out. How fast are they to forward post too?

Pawnless Endgame · 4 Aug 2013 at 17:05

Is it similar to having a PO box number for your house?

Tingtangmakadingdong · 4 Aug 2013 at 17:29

Monserrat said:
Is it similar to having a PO box number for your house?

My understanding from little research is Yes and No, you can have mail forwarded to another address like PO Box with virtual offices but you can't have PO Box as official registered address with companies house. I guess others will add more info about the differences.

Jonny · 4 Aug 2013 at 17:30

We had the whole package and I think it was £99 a month for a central London office. For calls they would simply take a message and email us, for post they used to send it daily but I'm not sure if we had to pay extra for the postage.

Hope that helps

peterwalkley · 4 Aug 2013 at 17:48

I would suggest you keep your home address as the official registered office. Anyone doing a background check as part of due diligence is going to be questioning a generic office suite.

Tingtangmakadingdong · 4 Aug 2013 at 18:08

peterwalkley said:
I would suggest you keep your home address as the official registered office. Anyone doing a background check as part of due diligence is going to be questioning a generic office suite.

I've been thinking about that from day one but it comes down to not having my home address plastered and available to everyone on my website, contracts, business cards, letter heads etc. ultimately I don't want randoms knocking on my door disturbing my family. This is why I considered a virtual office, it's the cheapest option for a startup like mine. I guess people will question me if they took up such due diligence and ill explain it, I've got nothing to hide. With this option it also reduces my overheads and that results in lower costs, I can then pass on some of these savings to my clients with lower fees.

opstrat · 4 Aug 2013 at 18:31

i worked for a man that had one in Glasgow. they done the usual, forwarded mail, would take a call then transfer to mobile. even had conference rooms available to book.

there's plenty around, i think its just trying to find ones with facilities that you will actually use.

dowie · 4 Aug 2013 at 20:00

Tingtangmakadingdong said:
I've been thinking about that from day one but it comes down to not having my home address plastered and available to everyone on my website, contracts, business cards, letter heads etc. ultimately I don't want randoms knocking on my door disturbing my family. This is why I considered a virtual office, it's the cheapest option for a startup like mine. I guess people will question me if they took up such due diligence and ill explain it, I've got nothing to hide. With this option it also reduces my overheads and that results in lower costs, I can then pass on some of these savings to my clients with lower fees.

I think the other poster was just referring to the registered address for your company - as in the one you provide companies house... there's nothing to stop you still using a virtual office address for the website, business cards etc..

Tingtangmakadingdong · 4 Aug 2013 at 20:24

dowie said:
I think the other poster was just referring to the registered address for your company - as in the one you provide companies house... there's nothing to stop you still using a virtual office address for the website, business cards etc..

I think legally, someone will correct me, you have to state the registered address so my home address would come put some how also its quite easy to find out the registered address from companies house using company name or number. What the other poster stated makes sense and I respect it but with it being my family home I rather not have any connections.

dirtychinchilla · 4 Aug 2013 at 20:25

What are you doing...escort service?! It'll get traced back to you somehow, whatever you do

Django x2 · 4 Aug 2013 at 20:29

You mean a managed office. Everyone ever has been doing it for years. Crack on. Alternatively, but your address as your accountants.

Mynight · 4 Aug 2013 at 20:57

Check out abandoned offices in your area and ask whoever is letting it if you can use it as a virtual office with a mind to let the place later on. (Even if you don't intend on letting the place

).

I "rent" a local office that's been empty for a year which just a phone line in it to forward calls.

You'll probally find they'd be happy to get a bit of money out of an building they can't let.

LeeUK · 4 Aug 2013 at 21:12

Whenever I see a company with Mayfair or similar as the registered address I always know it's just a virtual letter box. I like dealing with companies that have a physical location.

peterwalkley · 4 Aug 2013 at 21:17

I had my home address as the registered address when I ran a company. Never got a random person knocking on the door as a result.

Tingtangmakadingdong · 4 Aug 2013 at 21:38

LeeUK said:
Whenever I see a company with Mayfair or similar as the registered address I always know it's just a virtual letter box. I like dealing with companies that have a physical location.

Tingtangmakadingdong said:
...It seems like an ideal solution for my needs and ideally I'd buy a physical place once the business picks up...

With my current financial situation I just can't take the risk and be bound to somewhere paying rent, maybe I'll get one job a month which will barely cover my costs.

Just an example: 1 person office suite in London, the cheapest I found is £300 plus VAT. They require 3 months rent as deposit plus 1 month rent = £1440 inc VAT. Plus business rate about £25. Telephone and Internet, argument sake £25. That's really £1500 without even starting work yet. Then every month its nearly £400. Might seem small amount for some but like a said with my background and family to consider starting a small business is risky so I rather take the risk paying about £100 a month for virtual office.

httk · 4 Aug 2013 at 22:38

Tingtangmakadingdong said:
I think legally, someone will correct me, you have to state the registered address so my home address would come put some how also its quite easy to find out the registered address from companies house using company name or number. What the other poster stated makes sense and I respect it but with it being my family home I rather not have any connections.

I don't see any problem with having your registered address as your home and your virtual office on your letterheads and business cards. For certain official things, like accounts you'd need to use your home address, but for everything client facing you use your virtual office address. Depends on how much they charge extra and how likely you are to change virtual offices though.

LeeUK · 4 Aug 2013 at 22:51

Tingtangmakadingdong said:
With my current financial situation I just can't take the risk and be bound to somewhere paying rent, maybe I'll get one job a month which will barely cover my costs.

Just an example: 1 person office suite in London, the cheapest I found is £300 plus VAT. They require 3 months rent as deposit plus 1 month rent = £1440 inc VAT. Plus business rate about £25. Telephone and Internet, argument sake £25. That's really £1500 without even starting work yet. Then every month its nearly £400. Might seem small amount for some but like a said with my background and family to consider starting a small business is risky so I rather take the risk paying about £100 a month for virtual office.

That's why you just your home address as the registered address. I'd rather use a company that does this than one that hides behind a virtual desk.

dowie · 5 Aug 2013 at 00:12

Tingtangmakadingdong said:
I think legally, someone will correct me, you have to state the registered address so my home address would come put some how also its quite easy to find out the registered address from companies house using company name or number.

Why do you think that? What happens if you grow massive and you end up with 10 offices.. do you still think that legally you can still only list the one registered address for the company?
Its a business card, website, letterhead... you don't even have to put an address on it if you don't want to. I think you're just making up problems that don't exist and I can't see the concern with having your home address at companies house unless you're planning to do something dodgy.