How to find company information in United Kingdom

Company information is available from Companies House in English: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house

Information is available both through a web interface (https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/advanced-search) and an application program interface (https://developer.company-information.service.gov.uk) which can be integrated with third party software.

The following details about a company are available for free:

• basic company information (including company type, registered office address etc)
• the nature of business (SIC)
• the company status (for example, live, dissolved etc.)
• the date of last accounts or confirmation statement filed
• the date of next accounts or confirmation statement due
• full transaction filing
• images of documents
• officer searching
• current and resigned officers
• disqualified directors
• previous and dissolved names search
• mortgage charge data
• insolvency information

It is also possible to subscribe to a free ‘follow a company’ service which will provide you with an email alert when a company updates information they have filed with Companies House using the following steps.

• sign in to ‘Find and update company information’ (https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/), once you’ve registered an email address and password
• search for a company to follow
• select the company
• select ‘Follow this company’
  

See the preceding section for a full list of information which is available. The corporate document which are available include:

• the company’s rules (memorandum and articles of association)
• shareholders’ register (confirmation statement) and details of share transactions
• details of directors and company secretary
• persons with significant control
• annual accounts
• charges (mortgages)

Real Estate (Property) Information

Real estate (property) information can be obtained from the Land Registry https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry.

For England and Wales see: https://search-property-information.service.gov.uk/

For Scotland see: https://www.ros.gov.uk/

For Northern Ireland see: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/searching-land-registry#toc-0

For England and Wales, summary property information is free, but title register and title plans are a chargeable service (£3 per download).

Flood risk information can be downloaded from the Environment Agency: https://www.gov.uk/check-flooding

Intellectual Property (Trade Marks, Patents and Registered Designs) Information

• information about the ownership of intellectual property rights can be obtained from the Intellectual Property Office: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/intellectual-property-office
• trade marks can be searched here: https://www.gov.uk/search-for-trademark
• patents (including supplementary protection certificates) can be searched here: https://www.gov.uk/search-for-patent
• registered designs can be searched here: https://www.gov.uk/search-registered-design

In the UK, copyright (including rights in software and databases) and unregistered designs are not registrable and so cannot be searched.

Data Protection Registration

The Information Commissioner’s Office maintains a register of UK data controllers here: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/what-we-do/register-of-fee-payers/

There is no easy way to search for pending litigation in the UK.

It is common practice to seek disclosure of pending litigation during pre-transaction due diligence if buying a company or a business in the UK.