Why bother if it’s optional

Companies House is plain that you “do not have to tell us when a charge is satisfied”1. But until you do, anyone looking at the register sees a lender with security over the company’s property. That matters when you:

  • apply for new borrowing: a new lender wants to see that earlier security has gone;
  • sell the company, or property it owns: a buyer’s solicitor will ask why a charge is still showing.

Repaying the loan doesn’t change the register on its own, and the lender doesn’t always file. Ask the lender for a letter or deed confirming the release, then file the statement yourself.

Full or part

The statement says whether the debt has been satisfied in full or in part2. Mark it in part when, for example, a facility has been reduced but some is still owed and the security continues. When the loan is fully repaid, mark it in full and the register shows the charge as satisfied.

If the loan isn’t repaid but some of the property is no longer covered (the lender releases a building, or the company sells it), that’s a release rather than a satisfaction: see releasing property from a charge.

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.

Identifying the charge

Each charge created on or after 6 April 2013 has a unique charge code, shown on the register, and that is all the statement needs to identify it2. Older charges have no code, so the statement gives the date the charge was created, a description of the document that created it, and short particulars of the property charged2.

What the register shows

Companies House enters a statement of satisfaction, in whole or in part, against the charge2. The original charge and its documents stay on the company’s filing history; its status changes from outstanding to satisfied.

Filing the statement

Fileyear’s charge satisfaction lists the company’s outstanding charges from the register so you can pick the one repaid, asks whether it is satisfied in full or in part, and files form MR04.