When this applies

Most purchases don’t involve it. When a company buys a property with a mortgage, the seller’s mortgage is normally paid off on completion and the buyer’s own lender takes a new charge, which the company registers as a new charge within 21 days3. Read the 21-day charge rule for that.

This registration is for the less common case where the existing charge survives the purchase:

  • the company buys a business or its assets and takes them over subject to the seller’s lender’s security;
  • property is transferred to the company, for example from a director or another group company, with its charge still in place; or
  • a share of land is acquired subject to a charge granted by a previous owner.

The test in the law is whether the charge would have been registrable if the company had created it after acquiring the property2.

What you need

The filing gives the particulars of the charge (who it is in favour of, what it covers, whether it is fixed or floating) and, where the charge was made by a document, a certified copy of that document2,1. The same redaction rules apply as for a new charge: you may black out an individual’s personal information except their name, bank or securities account numbers, and signatures1.

Check your company’s dates and set a reminder

Search the Companies House register. Your company page shows its filing dates, what to file next and a reminder you can set.

Why register it if there’s no deadline

The charge already exists, and the lender’s rights against the property don’t depend on your company registering it. But the register should show what is secured over your company’s property: lenders, buyers and credit agencies rely on it, and an unregistered charge on an asset you own can stall a later loan or sale. Register it soon after the acquisition while the documents are to hand.

When it is paid off

Once the debt it secures is paid, or the property is released, tell Companies House so the register stops showing the charge as outstanding: see clearing a charge from the register and releasing property from a charge.

Filing the registration

Fileyear’s acquired charge registration takes the charge details and the certified copy you upload and files form MR02, paying Companies House’s charge registration fee for you from what you pay at checkout.