Since 18 November 2025, verifying your identity with Companies House has been a legal requirement for every company director. It comes from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, and Companies House has been phasing it in over 12 months, expecting 6 to 7 million people to verify by mid-November 2026.

A residents' management company is a company like any other, so this applies to its directors — usually volunteer leaseholders who took the role on to keep the block running, not to deal with Companies House. And in September 2026 the first directors were prosecuted for not doing it.

Here's what RMC directors need to know.

What has changed

Two rules now apply to anyone who is, or is about to become, a company director:

New directors must verify before they are appointed. Since 18 November 2025, someone joining your board — at an AGM, say — needs to verify their identity first.
Existing directors verify at the company's next confirmation statement. If you were already a director on 18 November 2025, you confirm your verification when the company files its next annual confirmation statement during the 12-month transition period.

The second rule has teeth. Companies House's confirmation statement guidance is blunt: "We will not accept your company's confirmation statement until all directors have verified their identity." One unverified director holds up the whole company's filing.

Does it apply to RMC directors?

Yes. The guidance says all company directors must verify their identity. There is no exemption for unpaid or volunteer directors, or for companies that exist only to manage a building.

The same goes for right to manage companies. Under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, an RTM company is a private company limited by guarantee, registered at Companies House like any other — so its directors must verify too.

When is your deadline?

There isn't one date for everyone. For existing directors, the deadline is your company's next confirmation statement, which falls once a year on a date set when the company was formed. You can see when yours is due on the company's page on Find and update company information.

Because the transition period started on 18 November 2025 and runs for 12 months, every company's next confirmation statement falls within it. If your RMC's statement is due in October or November, your deadline is now.

What happens if you don't

Companies House is clear that failing to verify on time is an offence, with "a range of consequences, including a financial penalty", and that you "will not be able to make any filings for your company or start a new company".

Those consequences are no longer theoretical. On 16 September 2026, the Insolvency Service brought its first prosecutions for identity verification offences. Three directors were fined at City of London Magistrates' Court — two for acting as directors without verifying, and one for failing to take reasonable steps to stop a fellow director doing so. All three were also convicted because their companies failed to file a confirmation statement on time. As Companies House put it: "identity verification is not optional."

The fines were small, but they are criminal convictions. And the third case matters for boards: knowing a co-director hasn't verified, and letting them carry on, was enough to be prosecuted.

Plenty of directors are still behind. Companies House's own statistics show that at the end of June 2026, only around 55% of director appointments complied.

How to verify

Verifying is free online, and Companies House's guidance on verifying your identity sets out the routes:

Online with GOV.UK One Login, using photo ID such as a biometric passport or UK photo driving licence. You'll also be asked for your current address and the year you moved in.
Without suitable photo ID, there are other routes, including using your bank or building society details.
Through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider — for example an accountant, solicitor or chartered secretary registered with Companies House — who verifies you on your behalf.

Once verified, you get a Companies House personal code: an 11-character code that belongs to you, not to the company. You use the same code for every company role you hold, so you only verify once. Keep it safe, but share it with whoever files your RMC's confirmation statement — the guidance mentions an accountant as an example — because they will need each director's code.

Small blocks: check whether your members are PSCs

People with significant control (PSCs) must verify too. Under the PSC rules, a PSC is usually someone with more than 25% of the shares or voting rights.

In a large block that rarely applies to anyone. In a small one it might. If your block has three flats and each member has one vote, each member holds a third of the votes — more than 25% — and is likely to be a PSC. Check your company's articles and your PSC register.

The timing for PSCs is different. A PSC who is also a director provides their personal code within 14 days, starting the day after the company's confirmation statement date. A PSC who isn't a director has the first 14 days of their birth month.

A checklist for your board

Find your confirmation statement date on the company's Companies House page.
List every current director and ask each one whether they have verified. Don't assume — the prosecutions show co-directors can be held responsible too.
Ask each director to send their personal code to whoever files the confirmation statement, whether that's a director, your managing agent or your accountant.
Check the register is right. Anyone who has stepped down should have their resignation filed; anyone serving should be on the register.
Check whether you have any PSCs, especially in a small block, and tell Companies House if you have none.
Brief new volunteers before the AGM. Anyone joining the board needs to verify before they're appointed.

How Block Guardian helps

Block Guardian doesn't file anything with Companies House — identity verification is between each director and Companies House, and nobody can do it for you.

But a deadline like this catches boards out for a familiar reason: it comes round once a year, and the knowledge sits with one person. Block Guardian keeps a block's deadlines, documents and decisions in one place — compliance dates with reminders, certificates and reports linked to the building, and an audit trail of who did what — so a change of directors doesn't mean starting again.

If you're an RMC director looking to put your block's records on a firmer footing, start a free 45-day trial.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Your own deadline is set by your company's confirmation statement; if you're unsure where you stand, check with Companies House or your accountant.