COM43010 - Case records: RLS addresses: RLS correspondence

When a communication is returned undelivered by the Returned Letter Section (RLS) of the Royal Mail, it is essential that you deal with it promptly.

On receipt of the returned item you should establish which address is RLS. The action you need to take depends on which type of address is RLS.

  • If the Registered Office address is RLS, a new address will be sent from Companies House and COTAX will amend it automatically including the unsetting of the RLS signal
  • If the communication address is RLS, then this will need to be updated clerically once a new address is found

Where there are any debts outstanding on COTAX the Tracing Unit will try to trace a new address, which they can enter on COTAX as a communication address. It is therefore important that any outstanding debt that is not working LA should be referred to DMB immediately by asking the Tracing Unit to make the case LA.

Where the RLS signal is entered onto the Registered Office address the case populates the RRLS (Registered Office RLS List) Work List. You can find further information about this Work List at COM45000 onwards and COM140000 onwards.

RLS correspondence originally issued by COTAX may be returned to any type of office. The information table for returned computer output (Word 132kb) shows

  • The types of output issued by COTAX
  • Who receives the RLS correspondence
  • Who needs to reissue the correspondence

For a list of forms relevant to this subject, see COM43011.

For a list of functions to use in particular situations, see COM43012.

For legislation applying to this subject, see COM43013.