Using Your Home Address as Your French Company's Registered Office

Registering a French company at the legal representative's home

A French company can be registered at the home address of its legal representative — the president of the SAS and, on the prevailing view, a directeur général or a directeur général délégué. The option is useful in the early life of a company that does not yet have a separate office, and it works for foreign founders living in France as well as for French founders. Where nothing in the residential lease or the co-ownership rules stands in the way, the home can host the registered office with no time limit. Where the lease or the co-ownership rules prohibit it, the Commercial Code still allows the home address — but for a maximum of five years; after that, the registered office must move.

This guide covers when the home-address option is available, when it is permanent and when the five-year clock applies, what happens at the end, the alternatives, the documents needed at registration, and the specific points foreign founders need to know.

What the registered office of a French company means

The registered office (siège social) is the legal address of a French company. It determines the applicable law — a company with its registered office in France is governed by French law — the place where the legal publicity formalities are carried out, and the courts with jurisdiction over actions concerning the company (C. com. Art. L 210-3). It is the address used for service of process, for tax filings, for communications with the registry of commerce, and for the address line on every commercial document the company issues. The K-bis carries it on the front page.

Choosing the address is one of the foundational decisions of incorporation. The bylaws name it, the legal-notice publication discloses it, and the registration file documents it. A change of registered office requires a bylaws amendment, a registry filing, and a new legal notice — a procedure with its own cost and timeline.

A French SAS can fix its registered office at:

• a leased commercial space (a lease agreement covers the rental);
• a sub-leased space (with the head landlord's consent if the head lease requires it);
• a coworking address (with a domiciliation contract from the coworking provider);
• a domiciliation contract with a registered provider (a société de domiciliation holding a prefectoral approval);
• the home address of the company's legal representative;
• the address of a parent company that puts premises at the subsidiary's disposal under an attestation.

This guide covers the home-address option — when it works, when the five-year limit applies, what happens at the end, and how it compares against the alternatives.

Using a home address as the registered office of a French company: what the law allows

Article L 123-11-1 of the Commercial Code lets a French company fix its registered office at the home address of its legal representative — the individual who represents the company against third parties. In an SAS, this is the president. Whether a directeur général or a directeur général délégué qualifies has been debated: the registry coordination committee once took the position that only the president's home can host the siège, but the ANSA treats the DG and DGD as legal representatives, and the Cour de cassation has since described the directeur général and the directeur général adjoint as legal representatives of the SAS (Cass. soc. 26 January 2011, n° 08-43475), undercutting the narrow reading — the prevailing view accepts their home address on the same basis.

Three points define the regime.

The legal representative must occupy the address. The home is the personal residence of the individual who serves as the company's legal representative. A founder who is not the legal representative cannot offer their own home as the registered office; the address must belong to the person whose name is on the K-bis as the company's representative. And the rule is personal to the company's own representative — a company cannot host another company at the home of its legal representative.

With no prohibition, the domiciliation is permanent. Where neither the residential lease nor the co-ownership regulations oppose it, the company can keep its registered office at the legal representative's home with no time limit (C. com. Art. L 123-11-1). The permanent option is not reserved to incorporation — the registered office can be transferred to the representative's home at any point in the company's life. For the registration file, the representative signs a letter putting part of the home at the company's disposal.

The home address is the registered office — not necessarily the place of business. Domiciliation at home means the company's legal address sits at the home; the operational activity (clients, employees, deliveries) must happen elsewhere if the residential lease or co-ownership rules restrict it. The distinction is protected by the case law: registering the company at a rented home, without exercising any activity there, does not change the destination of the premises, and the landlord cannot invoke the lease's residential-use clause against the tenant (Cass. 3e civ. 25 February 2016, n° 15-13856). A company can be registered at a home and operate from a coworking or a leased office without breaching the residential restrictions.

The home-address option is available regardless of the founder's nationality. A foreign founder who is also the legal representative and who has a French personal residence can use that residence as the company's registered office on the same terms as a French founder.

The 5-year limit on a home-address registered office in France

The five-year cap is the second branch of the regime — the one that applies when the conditions for permanent domiciliation are not met. Where the residential lease or the co-ownership regulations prohibit the domiciliation of a company at the home, Article L 123-11-1 of the Commercial Code still allows the registered office to sit at the legal representative's home — notwithstanding the prohibition — but only temporarily: for a maximum of five years from the company's registration, and never beyond the term of the representative's lease if that term falls earlier.

The temporary route has a condition of its own: before filing the registration application, the company must notify in writing the landlord, the co-ownership syndicate, or the representative of the building of its intention to use the temporary domiciliation faculty. Proof of the notification is not required for the registration itself, but the notification must be made — in practice by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, so the company keeps evidence of the send.

Two protections frame the temporary regime: the domiciliation cannot lead to a change of destination of the building, and it cannot make the commercial-lease statute apply to the home (C. com. Art. L 123-11-1). The landlord's position is preserved; the company gets a legal address, nothing more.

The five-year clock runs from the company's registration. On the natural reading of the text — the period runs from the company's creation, not from any individual's tenure — a change of legal representative during the period does not restart it; the point is not settled expressly, but planning on a reset would be imprudent. If the representative moves house, the registered office can follow to the new home — for the period remaining out of the original five years (or until the new lease's term if earlier), with a fresh written notification to the new landlord or syndicate.

The cap exists for a structural reason. A registered office maintained at a home against the lease or the co-ownership rules is meant to support the early life of a company before it can afford or justify a separate professional address. After five years, the company is expected to have moved into a more permanent footprint — a leased office, a domiciliation contract, or parent-company premises.

The five-year limit does not apply to the other domiciliation routes. A leased office, a coworking address, or a domiciliation contract with a registered provider can serve as the registered office indefinitely, provided the underlying contract is in force. And it does not apply to the home-address regime itself where nothing prohibits the domiciliation — that configuration is permanent.

Plan your 5-year home-address deadline

If your company runs on the temporary home-address regime, enter the registration date and see the deadline, the court clerk's warning date, and when to start the move.

What happens at the end of the 5 years on a home-address registered office

The Commercial Code provides a specific transition procedure when the five-year cap is approaching.

Three months before the end of the five-year period, the clerk of the commercial court invites the company's officer to communicate the address of the new registered office (C. com. Art. R 123-171). The letter goes to the registered office on file — the home address itself. The company has until the end of the five-year period to file a registered-office change at the Guichet unique, with the bylaws amendment, the new registered-office documentation, and the legal-notice publication for the change.

If the company fails to regularise its position by the deadline, the clerk strikes the company off the registry (radiation d'office). Striking off does not dissolve the company immediately — under the registry's general rules the company can apply to be reinstated once it cures the registered-office position — but it removes the company from the public registry, blocks K-bis updates, and creates significant operational friction. Suppliers, banks, and counterparties pulling the K-bis will see a struck-off company and will hesitate to deal with it.

Founders running an SAS on the temporary home-address regime should plan the move at least three to four months before the deadline. The new registered office needs to be lined up — a lease, a coworking contract, a domiciliation contract — and the bylaws amendment, the registry filing, and the legal-notice publication take three to four weeks for a clean file. The five-year cap is not a hard wall, but it is not a soft signal either; a company that drifts past it without a plan loses its registry status until it cures the position.

The alternatives to a home-address registered office for a French company

Four other options serve as registered offices in practice.

A leased commercial space. A lease agreement with a landlord for premises classified for commercial use (bail commercial, bail dérogatoire, or any other contractual basis that authorises commercial occupation) gives the company an indefinite registered office. The lease is a separate contract from the company's incorporation file; the registration file at the Guichet unique needs the lease as proof of the registered office.

A sub-leased space. A sub-lease from a tenant who is itself authorised to sub-let. The head landlord's consent is normally required, depending on the head lease. The registration file needs the sub-lease and, in many cases, the head landlord's consent letter.

A coworking address. A coworking provider that issues a domiciliation contract to its members can serve as the registered office. This is legally a collective domiciliation (C. com. Art. L 123-11): the contract must be written, run for at least three months renewable by tacit extension, and be mentioned at the registry, and the provider must hold a prefectoral approval for the domiciliation activity. The contract must specifically authorise the company to declare the address as its registered office, rather than merely to receive mail there. Many coworking providers offer this service for a monthly fee on top of the workspace fee.

A domiciliation contract with a registered provider. Specialised sociétés de domiciliation hold a prefectoral approval to act as registered-office providers for businesses. The domiciliation contract is the documentary basis for the registration; the provider must give the domiciled company access to premises allowing confidential meetings of its management bodies and the keeping of its books, and it handles mail and, in many cases, secretarial services. Domiciliation contracts are renewable and have no time cap.

An attestation from a parent company. A company and its subsidiaries can install their registered offices in the same premises which one of them has the use of, without a domiciliation contract and without the provider approval (C. com. Art. R 123-170) — a simple attestation from the company that has the use of the premises is enough for the registry. Where that company is itself a tenant, the lease must be reviewed: some leases prohibit making the premises available to anyone in any form, and the landlord's prior consent is then needed. Foreign parents do not have direct access to this option; the attesting company must have French premises at its disposal to offer.

Each option has its own cost profile and its own commercial signal. A leased office costs the most but signals the highest level of permanence; a domiciliation contract is the lightest but signals the least; a coworking address sits in the middle. Founders choose between them based on the company's stage, its budget, its need for a physical presence, and the duration of the planned operation.

Documents required to register a French company at a home address

The registration file at the Guichet unique needs proof of the registered office in the form expected for the chosen option (C. com. Art. L 123-11). The registry accepts flexible evidence of the address — a title deed, a lease, or a utility bill with a letter putting the premises at the company's disposal. For a home-address registered office:

• a copy of a recent utility bill (electricity, gas, water, fixed-line telephone) or a tax document issued in the legal representative's name and dated within the last three months;
• a letter or agreement signed by the legal representative putting part of the home at the company's disposal as its registered office;
• where the legal representative is a tenant, a review of the residential lease — if the lease permits domiciliation, the permanent regime applies; if it prohibits it, the company falls into the temporary five-year regime;
• where the temporary regime applies, the prior written notification to the landlord, the co-ownership syndicate, or the building's representative — not filed with the registration, but mandatory before it, and kept as proof.

The legal representative must also handle the practical side at La Poste — registering the company's name on the home letterbox so that mail addressed to the company is delivered. Where the home does not allow company-name mail, an alternative mail-handling arrangement is needed (mail forwarding, a P.O. box used in parallel for the operational mail — noting that a P.O. box can never itself serve as the registered office).

The documents are filed online at the Guichet unique alongside the rest of the registration file. The registry checks the documents for completeness before issuing the K-bis.

Foreign founders and the home-address option for a French company

Foreign founders use the home-address option in two configurations.

The foreign founder lives in France. Where the founder is the legal representative and has a personal residence in France, the home-address option works the same way as for a French founder: permanent where the lease and co-ownership rules permit, capped at five years where they do not. The documentation is the same.

The foreign founder does not live in France. Where the founder is the legal representative but does not have a personal residence in France, the home-address option is not available — there is no home address in France to use. The company needs an alternative registered office: a leased space, a coworking address, a domiciliation contract, or a parent-company attestation. Many foreign founders of French SAS subsidiaries use a domiciliation contract for the early years, then move to a leased office once the operation grows.

A specific point applies where the foreign founder is the president but the SAS has installed a French directeur général or directeur général délégué who lives in France. On the prevailing view — supported by the ANSA's analysis of the DG and DGD as legal representatives, reinforced by the Cour de cassation's description of the directeur général and directeur général adjoint as legal representatives of the SAS (Cass. soc. 26 January 2011, n° 08-43475) — the French DG or DGD's home address can serve as the company's registered office under the same conditions. The registry coordination committee historically read the texts more narrowly (president only), so the registration file should make the DG or DGD's representation power against third parties explicit in the bylaws.

The foreign founder remaining abroad while the company is registered at a French legal representative's home address is a common pattern in the early life of a French subsidiary. As the operation scales, the registered office moves to a separate address.

Tax and tenancy points for a home-address registered office of a French company

Four tenancy and tax points are worth flagging.

Residential lease provisions. Many residential leases in France permit domiciliation as the company's registered office but prohibit operational activity at the address. The distinction is workable for an SAS that is registered at home but operates from elsewhere — and the case law confirms that pure domiciliation, without activity, does not change the destination of the premises (Cass. 3e civ. 25 February 2016, n° 15-13856). Where the lease prohibits domiciliation outright, the company does not need a landlord waiver to register — it can use the temporary five-year regime with the prior written notification — but a waiver converts the position into a permanent one.

Actually working from home is a separate question. Running the activity at the home — not just the legal address — has its own rules. A professional activity, including a commercial one, can be carried on in part of the home without any authorisation where it is exercised only by the occupants whose principal residence it is and involves no clients or goods received on site (CCH Art. L 631-7-3) — the presence of an employee at the home defeats this tolerance. Receiving clients or merchandise at a home located in a high-demand housing zone (zone tendue) requires the mayor's prior authorisation for change of use; outside those zones, the activity can run without that authorisation. In every case, the lease and the co-ownership rules must not exclude the professional activity.

Co-ownership regulations. Where the property is in co-ownership (an apartment building, for instance), the regulations may exclude commercial activity. They should be checked at incorporation. A registered office is generally tolerated in co-ownership where the activity does not generate visible commercial use of the premises (no sign on the door, no client traffic, no deliveries). Where the activity is more visible, the co-ownership rules are likely to require professional premises elsewhere.

Local business tax (CFE) and insurance. A French company is subject to cotisation foncière des entreprises (CFE), a local tax on the company's premises. Where the registered office is at the legal representative's home, CFE is calculated on a notional base that is normally low in the first years and rises as the company grows; the representative's personal position on residence taxes is unaffected by the company's registration. On insurance, a residential policy covering the home does not automatically cover the company's activity — where any operational activity happens at the address, even occasional, a separate professional cover is generally needed; where the activity is purely administrative (mail, paperwork), the residential policy may cover the basics, but it should be checked.

These points apply to the home-address regime specifically; they do not arise the same way for a leased space, a coworking address, or a domiciliation contract.

Which registered-office route fits your situation?

Pick the situation closest to yours and see the route your registered office follows — and the point to settle before filing.

Frequently asked questions about home-address registered office for a French company

This article is for general information only and states French law as published in the sources available at the date shown above. It does not constitute legal advice. The right registered-office solution for a French SAS depends on the company's planned activity, its founders' personal circumstances, and the lease or co-ownership rules of the address being considered. Always seek qualified legal advice before fixing or changing the registered office of a French company.