Ryan, firstly, operating a business out of a tenetted address would not have been a concern, using that address as the registered address on Companies House would be. That can result in serious legal implications for the Landlord at a later date.

Quoting from HMRC:

"If your company or organisation's registered office is in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, HMRC will take action to recover what you owe. This may include:

(i) visiting your business premises to obtain payment or seize your business assets and sell them at auction

(ii) taking legal proceedings to collect the debt through the courts

(iii) in some extreme cases, applying to the court to have your company closed down

Remember interest is accruing from the date your Corporation Tax was due until it's eventually paid. This is on top of the Corporation Tax you owe."

The procedure would run as follows: (1) if the applicant has reported himself as self-employmed, we check whether he is registered as a Ltd. company on Company House. If so (2) we ring the previous landlord and check on any formal or informal agreement regarding using the property as a company registered address.

Our agency was being paid 10-15% of the annual letting fee for letting and managing properties, to my mind checks like these have to be made.

Edit: Usually if you do not have a respectable registered address, you should (1) use your accountant's address with his/her permission, or (2) pay for the services of an umbrella company.