Tools & data
What a registered company charge actually means
A registered charge on Companies House means a company has given a lender security over some or all of its assets, filed publicly within 21 days of the charge being created. It doesn't tell you the loan amount, the interest rate, whether the debt's been repaid in full, or whether the company can take on more borrowing. This page explains how to read an entry on the public register and where its limits are.
Recognition
Seeing "1 charge registered" against a company and not knowing what that means
Anyone who's looked up a business on Companies House's free register has probably hit the "Charges" tab and found it less informative than expected. There's a lender's name, a date, sometimes a filed document. There's rarely a loan amount, and never a current balance.
Why it happens
Registration is a legal filing requirement, not a credit report
When a UK company grants security over its assets (a debenture, a fixed charge, a floating charge), the law requires the charge to be delivered to Companies House within 21 days, counted from the day after the charge was created (see gov.uk's guidance on registering a charge and section 859A of the Companies Act 2006, which sets the period as "21 days beginning with the day after the date of creation of the charge"). Miss that window and the debt itself still stands, but registering late needs a court order extending the period (section 859F), and an unregistered charge is void as security against a liquidator, an administrator or a creditor of the company (see section 859H of the Companies Act 2006). That 21-day rule is why almost every company with secured lending shows something on the register early in the facility's life. It's routine, not a warning sign.
How long it takes in practice: of 38,649 new charges delivered to Companies House between 1 September and 31 October 2026 (our count, run 2 November 2026; method), the median gap from creation to delivery was 3 days. 81.9% arrived within 7 days, 95.4% within 14 and 99.7% within 21. Only charges that were filed are counted, so this is time to file among charges that were filed. Source: our analysis of the Companies House register of charges (method and limits).
The words on the register
Companies House charge terms
These are the labels you see on a company's Charges tab, what each one means, and where it shows.
| Term | What it means | Where you see it on the register |
|---|---|---|
| Charge code | The unique reference Companies House gives a charge when it registers it. The law requires the registrar to "allocate to the charge a unique reference code" (section 859I). You quote it when you file anything later about that charge. | The heading of each charge entry, labelled "Charge code". Older charges (created before 6 April 2013) are listed by the type of document instead, such as "Rent deposit deed". |
| MR01 | The form used to register a charge. gov.uk calls it "Register a charge (MR01)". | In the charge entry, as "Registration of a charge (MR01)", with a link to the filed copy. Where there is a charge document, gov.uk says the certified copy "will be shown on the company's public record". |
| MR04 | The form a company files to say a charge has been paid off in full or in part. gov.uk: "You do not have to tell us when a charge is satisfied". How to do it: satisfying a charge. | Not as a label of its own. Once it is filed, the charge's status changes to Satisfied or Part satisfied. |
| Outstanding | No satisfaction has been filed for this charge. It does not prove the debt is still owed, only that nobody has told the register otherwise. What happens to it if the company fails: charges and insolvency. | "Status Outstanding" in the entry, and the count at the top of the tab (for example "1 outstanding, 1 satisfied, 0 part satisfied"). |
| Satisfied | A satisfaction has been filed for the whole charge. Part satisfied means it was filed for part of the debt or part of the assets. | "Status Satisfied on" and the date, in the entry. |
| Fixed charge | Security over a specific asset, such as a property or a piece of equipment. How fixed and floating charges rank against each other: which charge gets paid first. | "Contains fixed charge." near the end of the entry. |
| Floating charge | Security over assets that change day to day, such as stock and debtors. Some floating charges are "qualifying": what makes a floating charge qualifying. | "Contains floating charge." and, if it covers everything, "Floating charge covers all the property or undertaking of the company." |
| Negative pledge | The charge stops or limits the company giving new security that ranks equal with it or ahead of it. The statement filed with every charge must say "whether any of the terms of the charge prohibit or restrict the company from creating further security that will rank equally with or ahead of the charge" (section 859D). What it means for more borrowing: borrowing with an existing debenture. | "Contains negative pledge." near the end of the entry. |
| Persons entitled | Who holds the charge: the lender, or a security trustee or agent acting for several lenders. | "Persons entitled" in the entry. |
Register labels as shown on Companies House's find and update service, read 21 October 2026. Form names and the MR04 quote from gov.uk's guidance on registering a charge, read 21 October 2026.
To work through one company's charges step by step, use our company charges checklist. If a charge has been paid off and still shows as outstanding, use the MR04 filing checklist. If you want the lender's written confirmation as well, the deed of release request letter asks for it.
How to actually read one
What the filing shows, and what it deliberately doesn't
- The charge holder's name. Usually the lender, sometimes a security trustee acting for a syndicate of them.
- The date created and the date registered. Not the same thing. A gap of a few days is normal; a much longer gap is unusual and worth noticing.
- Fixed or floating, or both. A fixed charge attaches to a specific, identifiable asset. A floating charge hangs over a class of assets that changes day to day (stock, debtors, cash) until it "crystallises" into a fixed charge on a triggering event such as insolvency. Most debentures include both.
- Whether it's marked satisfied. Filing a satisfaction (form MR04) once a debt is repaid is common practice but not compulsory, so an unsatisfied charge on the register doesn't always mean the debt is still outstanding. It sometimes just means nobody's filed the paperwork to say otherwise.
None of this includes the loan amount, the rate, the covenants, or a running balance. That detail sits in the private agreement between the company and the lender, not in anything Companies House publishes.
A common misreading: people reading a charges page tend to treat "unsatisfied" as meaning "still owed in full," when it usually just means nobody's told the register otherwise. And a satisfied charge doesn't mean a business has no other borrowing, only that this particular one has been formally marked as paid off or released.
Specialist insight
A registered charge doesn't decide what a business can borrow next
This is the point most explainers skip. Seeing a charge on the register tells you a lender has security, not how much headroom is left, not whether the agreement blocks further borrowing, and not whether the existing lender would consent to a second facility. Usually more borrowing is possible. It depends on what's actually written into the agreement, not on the fact that a charge exists at all.
Decision helper
What actually settles the question
If a specific decision hangs on what a charge means for a specific business (whether you're that business or assessing it), read the underlying agreement, not just the register entry. A solicitor or adviser reviewing the actual document is the only reliable way to know what it permits, what it restricts, and what consent it would need. The public filing tells you a charge exists. It was never designed to tell you more than that.
Going deeper
This page covers the basics of reading one entry. These questions come up often enough to deserve their own answer:
- What makes a floating charge "qualifying"
- Which charge gets paid first when there's more than one
- What actually happens when a floating charge crystallises
- What "all assets" actually covers in a debenture
- What an intercreditor agreement settles between lenders
- What happens to a charge if the company becomes insolvent
- How to mark a charge as satisfied once it's repaid
- Company charges in numbers: registration time, satisfaction and all-assets charges
- Calculate what unsecured creditors get from a floating charge
- Run your own figures through the full insolvency order of payment
Alternatives and limitations
If what you're really trying to work out is whether your own business can raise more finance despite an existing charge, this page is background only. Go to borrowing with an existing debenture for the practical answer, or see Data Sources for where every other figure on this site comes from.
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Adam Parker
Founder of Muswell Rose Consulting Ltd, which trades as Established Finance · Managing Director of Penny, an invoice finance business, from July 2020 to November 2023, and working in mortgages, commercial finance and fintech lending since 2010 (career history; career record).
Last updated:
Common questions
Questions about this
What is a mortgage charge on a company?
A mortgage is one type of charge, not a separate thing. gov.uk's own guidance puts it plainly: "a 'charge' is the security a company gives for a loan. For example, a mortgage is a type of charge." So a mortgage charge against a company is simply a registered charge where the security happens to be structured as a mortgage, most often over property, rather than a general floating charge or a charge over a specific other asset.
How do you register a charge at Companies House?
The company (or the lender) files the charge with Companies House within 21 days of it being created, using the relevant MR form, and Companies House issues a certificate confirming registration. It is a legal filing obligation triggered automatically once a company grants security, not an optional step. See our section above on the 21-day rule and what happens if you miss it.
What is a charge code on Companies House?
A charge code is the unique reference number Companies House allocates to every charge created on or after 6 April 2013. It appears on the registration certificate and acts as the permanent identifier for that specific charge, the same code you'd quote if you were later filing a satisfaction (form MR04) against it.
Why would a company register a charge?
Two different questions hide inside this one. Registering is not optional: once a company grants a lender security over its assets, the law requires that charge to be filed within 21 days, regardless of whether the company would rather it stayed private. Granting the charge in the first place is a commercial choice: offering security is usually how a business accesses a facility, or better terms on one, that a lender wouldn't extend unsecured.
What is an outstanding (unsatisfied) charge on Companies House?
An unsatisfied charge just means nobody has filed the paperwork saying the debt behind it has been paid off, not that the debt is definitely still owed in full. Filing a satisfaction (form MR04) is common practice once a facility is repaid, but it isn't compulsory, so plenty of genuinely repaid facilities still show as unsatisfied simply because the filing was never made.