Can I register to vote without my address showing?#
Yes, if your safety, or the safety of someone in your household, would be at risk with your name and address on the electoral register. With anonymous registration your details appear on neither version of the register, you are left off the registration forms sent to your address, and GOV.UK says your electoral registration office will not disclose your details unless legally required to. You can still vote.
You apply on a paper form, from GOV.UK for England, Wales and Scotland, or from the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland. You explain why you would be at risk and send one kind of evidence:
- a court document protecting you or someone in your household, in force on the day you apply, such as a non-molestation order, a restraining order, an injunction against harassment or a forced marriage protection order; or
- an attestation signed by someone the form lists, including a police officer of inspector rank or above, a director of social services or children's services, a registered doctor, nurse or midwife, or the manager of a refuge.
Anonymous registration lasts a year, so you apply again each year; an attestation can be written to cover up to five years, and the form suggests keeping copies of your evidence. You can give a separate correspondence address. Where photo ID is required at a polling station in Great Britain, the only ID an anonymous elector can use is an Anonymous Elector's Document, applied for through your electoral registration office, which also arranges postal and proxy votes.
How do I stop my address being sold?#
Opt out of the open register. GOV.UK says any person or business can buy a copy, and the Information Commissioner's Office says its users include direct marketing and online directory firms. Opt out through GOV.UK's register to vote service, even if you are already registered, or through your electoral registration office (in Northern Ireland, the Electoral Office). It does not affect your vote. If you are registering in a new name or at a new address, tick the box on the same application (changing your name on the electoral register).
Opting out leaves you on the full register, which GOV.UK says can be viewed, often in a library; only anonymous registration takes you off it.
Can I keep my home address off Companies House?#
Yes. A director gives two addresses: a service address, which is public and can be the company's registered office or somewhere else, and a home address, which Companies House keeps on a private register and shares only with credit reference agencies and public authorities such as the police. If you do not want your home address public, Companies House says not to use it as your service address, the registered office or the company's inspection address.
If it is already on the register from past filings, apply on form SR01 to remove it, for £34 a document. A serving officer gives a replacement address; for a former officer, a dissolved company or a past registered office, Companies House shows only the first half of the postcode. A few addresses cannot be removed, such as the company's current registered office, which has to be changed first.
Stopping your home address going to credit reference agencies is a separate £100 application, open to people at serious risk of violence or intimidation because of the company's activities. Companies House adds that it cannot stop others using what was public, and that its register appears in search engines. Changing a director's name covers the name change itself.
Can I hide my address on the Land Registry?#
Partly. The title register records the owner's name and an address for service, and anyone can download a copy for £7. That address need not be the property: GOV.UK says you can register up to three, including an email address, provided one is a postal address, which need not be in the UK. Changing them is free, on form COG1.
The documents HM Land Registry keeps are also open to inspection by anyone, with some exceptions. Where one contains what it calls prejudicial information, forms EX1 and EX1A ask for it to be made an exempt information document, so that only an edited copy is open; paper applications cost £25 a document. HM Land Registry's practice guide gives as an example an address revealed in correspondence where the person fears for their safety, such as someone who has experienced domestic violence. It would not normally exempt the names of the parties to a deed, and entries already in the register stay there. You can apply at the same time as the application a document goes with, such as a copy of your deed poll sent to change your name on the register.
What about banks and everyone else?#
Banks will usually send post elsewhere. HSBC mentions a trusted friend's or family member's address, Nationwide says it can redirect statements to a different address, and Santander and Lloyds mention online statements or having letters sent elsewhere. UK Finance's guide for people facing financial abuse adds two cautions: some letters, such as legal terms and conditions, may still have to go to your home address, and a statement can show where you used cash machines and shops.
Refuge's guide to keeping your address safe goes wider: search for your address online and ask sites that show it to remove it, check the addresses saved in delivery and shopping accounts, and ask schools, vets, dentists and gyms not to give out your address without a password.
Does a deed poll show my address?#
Yes. The deed poll we draft opens with your former name and the address you give when you order, and GOV.UK's own wording includes an address too. A move does not affect it: deed polls and moving house. Anyone shown the deed or a copy sees that address, and an organisation that keeps a copy holds it with your record, so it is worth thinking about who needs one. Enrolment goes further: GOV.UK says your address is published in The Gazette (can someone find out my new name?).
Where can I get help?#
GOV.UK's page on getting help with domestic abuse lists free, confidential services, each with its own website: Refuge's National Domestic Abuse Helpline in England, Live Fear Free in Wales, the Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline in Scotland, the Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline in Northern Ireland, and the Men's Advice Line, run by Respect. Victim Support helps victims of any crime, Women's Aid has a directory of local services, and Citizens Advice explains the options, including court orders. In an emergency, contact the police.
Planning a change of name for your safety puts these steps in order.
Questions people ask
Can I keep my address from the other parent in family court?
Yes. Form C8, sent with your application, keeps your contact details to the court and Cafcass (or Cafcass Cymru) unless the court orders otherwise. Changing your name after domestic abuse explains how it fits with an application about a child's name.
Can I use a PO box as my Companies House address?
Not on its own. Form CH01 says a new address must be a physical location and cannot be a PO Box number unless it is part of a full service address, and your usual residential address cannot be a PO Box at all.
Will registering anonymously affect credit checks?
It can slow them down. Experian says lenders use electoral register details to confirm your name and address, and that when they cannot, they may ask for other proof of identity and address.
Do I need a home address to open a bank account?
UK Finance's guide says opening an account needs identification and an alternative address, and that providers are often able to accept letters from a refuge, a social worker or a local authority. Ask the bank's support team what it will accept.
Something else? Ask us, and a person replies by email, normally the same working day.
