Private Limited Company

[rescuer]

I wish to safeguard a trade name but which is not at present used for trading. I believe it could be useful to anyone selling certain products.
I have registered the name as an email address but feel a registered limited company would be a more secure safeguard.
Could this be done. If so at what cost. And would there be an annual fee to retain the limited company?

[ummmm]

There is an annual fee to register a company with companies house. Have you looked on there web site? To have a ltd company you have to submit company accounts so i'm not sure what will happen if you are not yet trading. Give them a bell. They are helpful

[mccfluff]

what about registering the name as a trademark?
http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm/index.htm

[Siamsal]

To create the company will cost you somewhere in the area of �100, if you find a cheap company to do it.

You'll have to buy a pre-created company (sort of off-the-shelf) then change its name to what you want. It cost me about that sum, but that was 10 years or so ago.

The on-going costs (assuming you're a private, limited company) are the annual return (about �15?) and you will have to do accounts annually, even if not trading. Dormant accounts are trivial though, and you can do them yourself.

No trade means no turnover or profits, so once you've explained it, the tax people don't bother you.

[rescuer]

Thank you ummmm, mccfluff and Siamsal for your very interesting and useful answers.
Sorry for my delay in acknowledging your quick reponses.