Ltd Company acting as Company Secretary

[Nemesis]

Is there any special regulation or registration, etc that is required
for a Ltd company to act as Company Secretary to another Ltd company ?

The reason I ask is that I run two Ltd companies and they both use a
third party Ltd company as their Company Secretary.

It occurs to me that they could be each other's Secretary, and this
would save me the hassle and expense of dealing with this third party.

Is this feasible, or are there rules to prevent this working ?

 

[Troy Steadman]

Is there any special regulation or registration, etc that is required
for a Ltd company to act as Company Secretary to another Ltd company ?

The reason I ask is that I run two Ltd companies and they both use a
third party Ltd company as their Company Secretary.

It occurs to me that they could be each other's Secretary, and this
would save me the hassle and expense of dealing with this third party.

Is this feasible, or are there rules to prevent this working ?

The third party Ltd company is presumably one set up by your accountant
to wheedle extra fees out of you. If that is the case I would get
another accountant, why have a Ltd Co as your Company Secretary?


--

 

[Nemesis]

The third party company is just one of those companies who provide
business services, not my accountant.

The point is I have two ltd companies and they both have me as Director
and this 3rd party as secretary. I wonder if my Ltd's can be each
other's secretaries, then I can discard this 3rd party altogether, and
both of my Ltd's will save the annual fee.

Is there any reason why I can't do this ?

 

[Troy Steadman]

The third party company is just one of those companies who provide
business services, not my accountant.

The point is I have two ltd companies and they both have me as Director
and this 3rd party as secretary. I wonder if my Ltd's can be each
other's secretaries, then I can discard this 3rd party altogether, and
both of my Ltd's will save the annual fee.

Is there any reason why I can't do this ?

No reason at all. The third party Ltd Co is a scam which is ripping you
off for a few extra quid to a couple of mundane tasks every year. If you
want your Ltd Companies to be secretaries to each other that is fine,
but when no scam is involved it is more normal to have real people as
secretaries.


--

 

[Tim]

No reason at all...
... If you want your Ltd Companies to
be secretaries to each other that is fine, ...

Didn't someone on this forum once say that, somewhere down the line, a Co
Sec of one of the Ltd Cos *must* be a person (rather than another Ltd Co)?
That would seem to make sense...

If Nemesis's plan truly *is* allowed, then it makes a mockery of the rule
"Sole Director cannot also be the Co Sec". Anyone wanting to set up
entirely on their own (single Director, no other person/co as Co Sec) would
just set up two Ltd Cos (call them Co1 and Co2), be the sole director of
each, and have Co1 as Co Sec for Co2 and vice versa.
In that case, what would be the point of the rule "cannot be sole director
and co sec"??

 

[Peter Saxton]

Didn't someone on this forum once say that, somewhere down the line, a Co
Sec of one of the Ltd Cos *must* be a person (rather than another Ltd Co)?
That would seem to make sense...

If Nemesis's plan truly *is* allowed, then it makes a mockery of the rule
"Sole Director cannot also be the Co Sec". Anyone wanting to set up
entirely on their own (single Director, no other person/co as Co Sec) would
just set up two Ltd Cos (call them Co1 and Co2), be the sole director of
each, and have Co1 as Co Sec for Co2 and vice versa.
In that case, what would be the point of the rule "cannot be sole director
and co sec"??

Agreed. I think there is some regulation against this but I cant lay
my hands on it. The new Companies Bill is supposed to abolish the role
of Company Secretary isnt it?

 

[Tim]

The new Companies Bill is supposed to
abolish the role of Company Secretary isnt it?

That'd be good.
Would it still allow single-director, single-member companies?

 

[Peter Saxton]

That'd be good.
Would it still allow single-director, single-member companies?

I think so. This is the problem with "simplifying" legislation. It's
usually thought up by people who dont seem to understand why it was
written in the first place.

Wait and see what happens when all the simplifications are done and
people start to find it easier to abuse it. There's be a lot of
"Gordon Brown style whines"!