Company charges and charge codes on Companies House

A charge is security a company gives over its property for a debt: a mortgage over a building, or a debenture giving a lender rights over the business as a whole. Charges must be registered at Companies House, and the register is where anyone dealing with the company can see who holds security over what. This guide explains how a charge is registered, what a charge entry shows, what the charge code means, what outstanding and satisfied mean, and what the entry leaves out.

Registering a charge at Companies House

Under section 859A of the Companies Act 2006, a statement of the charge’s particulars must be delivered to the registrar within 21 days beginning with the day after the charge was created, with a certified copy of the instrument that creates it where there is one. The statement is filed on form MR01, or MR02 for property acquired subject to an existing charge. Either the company or the lender can deliver it, online through Companies House’s service or filing software for £14, or on paper for £24 (Companies House’s fees as GOV.UK published them in September 2026).

A charge not registered in time is void against a liquidator, an administrator and the company’s creditors, and the money it secures becomes payable at once (section 859H). The debt survives, but the security is lost if the company becomes insolvent.

Only the court can extend the time. Under section 859F it may do so where the failure was accidental, due to inadvertence or some other sufficient cause, or would not prejudice the company’s creditors or shareholders, or where it is otherwise just and equitable. In London such applications are heard in the High Court’s Companies List. The court can also correct an omission or mis-statement in particulars already delivered, on the same grounds (section 859M).

What is a charge code?

When it registers a charge, the registrar allocates it a unique reference code and gives a certificate stating it (section 859I). For a charge registered since 6 April 2013, the code is twelve characters: the company’s registered number followed by four digits. A company numbered 01234567 might show a charge code such as 0123 4567 0003. The code identifies the charge on every later filing about it, such as a statement that it has been satisfied.

Charges registered before 6 April 2013 have no code. The register identifies them by number instead, and they were registered on older forms such as MG01.

What an entry shows

• the dates the charge was created and delivered;
• who is entitled to it, usually the lender or a security trustee for several lenders;
• a brief description of property charged, where the charge covers land or other specific property;
• whether it contains a fixed charge, a floating charge, a floating charge over all the company’s property and undertaking, or a negative pledge (a promise not to create other charges that rank ahead of or equal to it);
• its status: outstanding, satisfied in full, or partly satisfied;
• later events recorded against it, such as the appointment of a receiver under the charge.

The certified copy of the instrument is on the register too. Personal details other than names, bank account numbers and signatures may have been removed from it before it was filed. It is often a long document, and the brief description on the entry is no substitute for it where the detail matters.

Outstanding, satisfied and released

A charge shows as outstanding from the day it is registered until someone files a statement that it has been satisfied or released. Outstanding means only that no such statement is on the register, not that money is still owed: a loan repaid years ago leaves its charge outstanding until the statement is filed.

A statement that a charge has been paid off, in full or in part, is filed on form MR04, and a statement that property has been released from a charge, or no longer belongs to the company, on form MR05. The register then shows the charge as satisfied, partly satisfied or with property released. The statement is the company’s; the register records it rather than checking it.

What the register does not show

• How much is owed. The instrument may say what the charge secures, but no filing states the balance outstanding at any date.
• Security that is not a registrable charge. Personal guarantees given by directors, and a supplier’s retention of title to goods it has sold, are not on the register at all.
• Why a charge was created or satisfied. A charge in favour of a director or a company they control is a fact to note; what lies behind it is a question to ask.

Reading charges in a director check

A run of new charges shortly before a company failed, a charge granted to someone connected with the directors, or charges satisfied just before a sale of the business are all things worth reading in the filings and asking about. Each of them can have an ordinary explanation. See Companies House filing codes for the other forms in a filing history, and what the register does not show for its other limits.

In a report

A Check the Director report shows, for every company the person has been an officer of, the number of charges outstanding and satisfied, each figure cited to the register’s entries. A Check the Company report shows the same for the company, alongside its insolvency record and The Gazette’s notices. The report states what the register holds; it does not value the security or say whether a charge was appropriate.

This guide describes the public record in general terms, for England and Wales unless it says otherwise. It is not legal advice.