Does our building company have to record people with significant control (PSCs)?
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Yes. Every company has to identify its people with significant control and tell Companies House who they are, or tell Companies House that it has none or can’t identify any. Since 18 November 2025 the company no longer keeps its own PSC register; the information is filed at Companies House instead.
What a PSC is
Companies House guidance says a person with significant control is someone who owns or controls the company. They must meet one or more conditions, known as the “nature of control”. A PSC is usually anyone who:
- holds more than 25% of the shares or voting rights;
- can appoint or remove a majority of the directors;
- can influence or control the company or a trust. This applies only in limited circumstances.
What it means for a building company
It depends on how the shares or votes are spread. In a share-of-freehold company where each flat has one equal share, a flat owner holds more than 25% only if there are fewer than four flats. With three flats, each owner holds a third and each is a PSC. With eight flats, each holds 12.5%, so on the shareholding test nobody is. In a company limited by guarantee, such as many RTM companies, look at the voting rights in the articles. Check the register of members and your articles, because some companies give extra votes or powers to certain people.
If you have no PSC, or can’t identify one, you still have to tell Companies House. The guidance says the PSC information can’t be left blank. The guidance covers only the most common cases, and recommends the full guidance and professional advice for complex ones.
What you have to do
- Identify your PSCs and confirm their details with them: name, date of birth, nationality, country of residence, a service address, the home address (which isn’t made public), the date they became a PSC, and which conditions they meet.
- Tell Companies House. If anything changes, you have 14 days from confirming the change.
- A PSC must verify their identity with Companies House and provide their personal code within a 14-day period. The dates depend on whether the company was registered before 18 November 2025 and whether they are also a director.
What changed in November 2025
The duty on companies to keep their own register of PSCs (Companies Act 2006, Part 21A, Chapter 3) was removed with effect from 18 November 2025, by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. The Companies House record is now the one that counts. If you’re still keeping a PSC register in a minute book, it no longer satisfies the requirement on its own.
Penalties
Companies House guidance says anyone who doesn’t respond to a notice from the company within one calendar month, or gives false information, commits a criminal offence, with a possible two-year prison sentence, a fine or both.
This is general information from Companies House guidance, not legal advice.
How Tiny Freeholder helps
Tiny Freeholder keeps the register of members and directors for your building company and records which of them is a person with significant control, along with the date and reason for any change. It also produces the signed record of each change.