What SMEs Need to Know
Moving business premises means juggling logistics, utilities, and a surprising number of official notifications — miss one and you could end up double-billed, mid-post, or holding an out-of-date statutory record. Here’s what to sort, and roughly in what order, whether you trade as a limited company or a sole trader.
Set a realistic timeline
Most problems on a move are timing problems rather than planning problems — a broadband install with a six-week lead time, a landlord who wants two months’ notice, a sign-off that takes longer than expected. For a full office, shop or workshop move, start working through the list below 8–12 weeks out. A sole trader moving a smaller operation can usually work to a shorter runway, but the same steps apply.
- Check your current lease for the notice period you owe, and any dilapidations clause requiring you to reinstate the property.
- Check the new lease for a rent-free fit-out period, and who’s responsible for utility connections and signage.
- Set a target move date and work backwards from it for everything else on this list.
Logistics
Book removals early, particularly around weekends or month-end when demand is highest, and build a buffer day or two into customer commitments in case the move overruns. Broadband and phone line installs at a new address can take 4–6 weeks, so get this booked as soon as the new premises is confirmed — arrange call forwarding in the meantime so nothing’s missed. Check whether new signage needs planning permission or landlord consent, and set up Royal Mail redirection to catch anything still addressed to the old premises.
Once the move is done, update the address on your website, invoices, letterhead and any vehicle signage.
Utilities and business rates
Take final meter readings on the day you leave the old premises and close those accounts, then set up new electricity, gas and water accounts at the new one — check first whether the landlord already has a supply contract in place. Business rates are billed to whoever occupies the property, not the previous tenant, so confirm liability for the new premises with the local authority and tell them you’re leaving the old one to avoid being billed for both.
Telling HMRC
Limited companies: update your Corporation Tax address through your HMRC online account (or have your accountant do it), and update VAT and PAYE address details if you’re registered for either. Note that this is separate from your registered office address at Companies House — updating one doesn’t update the other.
Sole traders: update your address through your personal tax account, or when you next file a self-assessment return. If you’re VAT-registered or run payroll, the same VAT and PAYE updates apply.
Notifying Companies House
This applies only if you’re a limited company and the new premises is your registered office, not just a trading address. If so, update it on the Companies House register — this can be done online and takes effect quickly — and update the company’s own statutory registers to match. If your registered office is actually your accountant’s address and only your trading address is moving, this step doesn’t apply.
Example: an agency moving both its office and registered office to a new address updates the Companies House register directly. A consultancy that only moves its trading address — its registered office stays with its accountant — has nothing to file at all.
Everyone else worth telling
- Your bank — most let you update the address online, though some ask for proof of the new one.
- Business insurance — buildings, contents and liability policies are often priced against the specific premises, so tell insurers before the move, not after.
- Regular suppliers and customers, particularly anyone sending physical deliveries.
- DVLA, if a business vehicle is registered to the premises address.
- Your accountant, so their records match what’s filed with HMRC and Companies House.
The takeaway
A premises move touches more of the business than it first looks like — not just the physical logistics, but a string of accounts and statutory records that all need updating separately. None of it is complicated on its own; it just needs working through in good time rather than discovered too late.