Guide
How to check if a company is legit in the UK (in 5 minutes)
To check if a company is legit in the UK, find its company number, look it up on Companies House, and confirm five things: the company is active, its accounts are not overdue, there is no strike-off notice, the registered address is real, and the website’s claims about age and size match the record. Then look for reviews older than a year and pay by card, not bank transfer.
Key facts
- Every UK limited company has a public record on Companies House: number, status, registered address, directors, owners and filed accounts. Searching it is free.
- A company must show its registered name, number and registered office on its website and emails (Companies Act 2006, s.82 and the Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business Names Regulations 2015). Many small firms don’t — that is a question, not proof of anything.
- Overdue accounts and a Gazette strike-off notice are the two register entries that most reliably precede a company disappearing with deposits.
- Sole traders and partnerships are not on Companies House. About 56% of UK businesses are sole traders (BEIS Business Population Estimates).
- A transfer to a genuine company that later fails is not fraud and is not refunded by the bank; a credit card payment of £100 or more brings a purchase up to £30,000 under Section 75.
Step 1: find the company number (2 minutes)
The company number is the only reliable way to identify a business; the trading name on the website is not. Look for an 8-digit number (or SC/NI + 6 digits) in the website footer, the terms page, the privacy policy or an invoice. It is usually near the words “registered in England and Wales”.
If the number is on the website
Copy it exactly. A number that leads to a company with a completely different name or trade is a warning in itself — cloned websites often keep someone else’s footer.
If the number is not on the website
Search Companies House by the trading name. If several companies match, the right one usually shares the website’s postcode or the surname of the person you have spoken to. If nothing matches, the business may be a sole trader (see below) — or the name is not what the company is called. Ask: “Which limited company will the invoice be in?” A genuine firm answers in seconds.
A free company check does this step from the website address, including the postcode and Google profile matching.
Step 2: read the Companies House record (2 minutes)
Five entries on the record tell you most of what matters (full walkthrough: free Companies House check). Open the company page on find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk and check them in this order.
| What to look at | Fine | Ask about it | Do not pay a deposit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company status | Active | Active — proposal to strike off (voluntary) | Dissolved, in liquidation, or a Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off |
| Accounts | Filed on time | First accounts not yet due (new company) | Overdue |
| Incorporation date | Matches the website’s story | Younger than “years in business” claims — the business may predate the company | Under a year old and claiming a long history |
| Registered office | A trading address you could visit | An accountant’s or agent’s address | A mailbox shared with thousands of companies and no other address anywhere |
| Officers | Directors with a settled history | A director with one dissolved company | Two or more dissolved companies in five years in the same trade |
Read the accounts, even the small ones
Under “Filing history”, open the latest accounts. Micro-entity accounts show only a balance sheet, but that is enough: net assets, cash, and whether liabilities exceed assets. Net assets of £342 are normal for a small trade (profits are drawn out) — but they mean a deposit by transfer is unsecured. Net liabilities mean the company owed more than it owned at its year end; that is a question to ask before paying anything.
Step 3: compare the website with the register (1 minute)
A company is legitimate when what it says about itself is true, so put the website’s claims next to the record. Three claims matter most:
“Established 1998” / “over 25 years’ experience”
Compare with the incorporation date. If the company is younger, look at the domain: if the website is as old as the claim, the business likely traded under another name or as a sole trader before incorporating — ask which. If the domain is as new as the company, the years are a story.
“Our own workshop” / “we manufacture”
Compare with the registered activity (SIC code) and the accounts. A firm registered for installation only, with no premises and micro accounts, is probably subcontracting manufacture. Not wrong — but it changes what a 50% deposit is for.
“A team of 15” / “family-run since…”
Employee numbers appear in most accounts. Family history usually appears in the officer list (same surname, long appointments). A mismatch here is usually marketing, not fraud, but two or three mismatches together are a pattern.
Step 4: check the footprint outside the register (under a minute)
The register says what the company is; the footprint says whether anyone has dealt with it.
- Domain age. A WHOIS or RDAP lookup shows when the website address was registered. Older than the company is good news; a few weeks old is not.
- Reviews with age. Twenty reviews spread over three years mean more than fifty from the last two months. Google Business, Checkatrade, Trustpilot — read the oldest ones, not the newest.
- Contact details. A landline, an email on the firm’s own domain and a postcode you can find on a map. Mobile-only, Gmail-only and no address is the classic combination behind deposit losses.
- Trade scheme logos. Gas Safe, NICEIC, FENSA, TrustMark and MCS all have public registers. A logo on a site proves nothing; a search result on the scheme’s own site does.
Staircase manufacturer, on the register since 2005
Company number not on the website, but the Google Business profile linked to the site carried the legal name, and the postcode matched the registered office. 21 years on the register, accounts on time, net assets £93,000, 23 reviews going back to 2021, domain from 2005. No claim on the site contradicted the record. Guidance: 30–50% deposit is normal for the trade; pay the first stage by credit card.
Enter a website address, e.g. aurelia-kitchens.co.uk
Step 5: decide how to pay
Legitimacy reduces the risk; how you pay decides who carries what is left. Pay any part of the job by credit card and, for purchases between £100 and £30,000, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes the card issuer jointly liable for the whole contract — including the part paid by transfer. A debit card gives chargeback rights under the card scheme rules, usually within 120 days. A bank transfer gives neither.
- Ask for a card payment link (Stripe, SumUp, Square) for at least £100 of the deposit.
- Split the rest into stages tied to things you can see: materials delivered, photos from the workshop, installation started.
- Make sure the quote, contract and invoice name the limited company and its number — not just the brand.
- If an email later says the bank details have changed, phone the number on the original quote before doing anything.
Trade-by-trade deposit norms and stage schedules: kitchens, Kitchen deposit: how much is normal and how to pay it safely, Kitchen deposit: how much is normal and how to pay it safely.
If the business is a sole trader
Sole traders are not on Companies House, so none of the register checks apply — and a large share of UK tradespeople are sole traders. That is not a warning sign (see how to check a sole trader). What you can still verify: a trading address you can visit, a landline, a VAT number (checkable on GOV.UK if they are VAT-registered), membership of a trade scheme on the scheme’s own register, and reviews with some age. Because there is no company and no filed accounts, pay by card and keep the deposit to the low end of what is normal for the trade.
A second example: where the register said no
Building services firm with a TrustMark logo
Company formed in 2020; the website claims ten years. Companies House shows a compulsory strike-off notice in the Gazette and £16 in cash on the latest accounts. No reviews on any platform. The TrustMark logo could not be matched to a registration. Every one of these is visible for free in about a minute; together they mean the company may not exist by the time the job is due.
Frequently asked questions
Is it a legal requirement for a company to show its number on its website?
Yes. A UK company must display its registered name, registration number, place of registration and registered office address on its website and in emails and letters. Many small firms don’t; ask for the number rather than assuming the worst.
How can I check a company is registered in the UK for free?
Search the Companies House register at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk by name or number. It shows status, incorporation date, address, officers and every filed document, free of charge. A free company check does the same from the website address and adds the comparison with the site’s claims.
Does “active” on Companies House mean the company is safe to pay?
No. Active only means the company has not been dissolved. It can be active with overdue accounts, a strike-off notice pending, or net liabilities. Read the accounts and the filing history, not just the status line.
What if the company is only a few months old?
A new company is not a bad company, but it has no record to check. Look at whether the website admits it is new or claims a long history; ask what the directors did before; keep the deposit small and pay by card.
How do I check a company’s directors?
On the company’s Companies House page, open “People”. Each director links to their other appointments, current and past. One dissolved company in a lifetime is normal; several in the same trade within a few years is the pattern behind phoenix companies.
Can I get my deposit back if the company is not legitimate?
If you paid by credit card, claim under Section 75; by debit card, ask your bank for a chargeback. If you paid by bank transfer, ask your bank about the APP scam reimbursement rules — they apply to fraud, not to a genuine business that fails — and report to Action Fraud.
Sources
- Companies House — Find and update company information
- Companies Act 2006, s.82 — requirement to disclose company name
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, s.75
- The Gazette — strike-off and insolvency notices
- GOV.UK — Check a UK VAT number
- Business population estimates (Department for Business and Trade)
- SafeToPay methodology v1.1