Can I Use My Home Address For My LLC? Read This First

You have decided to kick-start your Limited Liability Company. Bravo! You have made a great decision. 

LLC or Limited Liability Company is a breeze to set up. However, you must also consider several factors when applying since it’s a business you plan to nurture and expand. 

You’ll make several decisions when establishing your company and one of those decisions is the business address. Most people may decide to use their home address, mainly since the house is theirs and they live permanently there. 

But here is what we think about using your home address for your LLC. 

Can I Use My Home Address For My LLC?

Yes, you’re free to use your home address for your LLC unless there are laws prohibiting business owners in your area from doing so. But risks are involved, which you should consider before moving ahead with your plan. 

The general advice is that if you plan to run the company for a long time, avoid using your home address for your LLC. We’ll throw more light on this. 

Why Using Home Address For Your LLC Is A Wrong Idea

Your home is your property, and so is your new business. Thus, using your home address for your LLC may be tempting. But before you take this step, sit back and have a return. Is it the right step? 

Here are reasons we feel using your home address isn’t a good decision for your business.  

 #1: You might ruin your reputation and professionalism:

The truth is most customers aren’t judgmental. Thus, they won’t care even if you decide to use your home address for your LLC. These customers care more about the quality of the product or services you’re delivering. If your products or services are good, nothing else matters to them. 

But such customers are rare. In addition, you cannot decipher which customer is judgmental and which isn’t. So the right thing to do is to act professionally in all your dealings. 

Customers may feel unconvinced and decide against doing business with you if they feel you’re unprofessional. And they may think the same about your products or services. These customers are judgmental and care much about your professionalism and the quality of your products or services. 

Using your home address for your Limited Liability Company is an easy way to tell potential customers that you’re unprofessional. Most expect you to have an official business address different from your home address. 

#2: Zoning consideration might be an issue:

Laws vary from state to state, zone to zone in the United States of America. Thus, the laws in an area might be against running commercial businesses from one’s home, while such laws might not exist in some zones. 

Endeavor to check with your municipality to be entirely sure what the law says about running a business from home. If the law is against running a commercial business from home, you cannot use your home address for LLC.

A Handy Tip: Most zoning restrictions may only affect a specific type of business. However, some may affect all businesses.    

 #3: Your home and family could be in danger:

How can using your home address for your LLC put your home at risk? Here is what you need to know or already know. 

When you use your home address for your LLC, it automatically means you have to use it anywhere you mention your business online. 

What does this imply? You must mention your home address in your Google My Business profile, marketing material, social media accounts, and other business directories and platforms. 

Predators seeking the home addresses of business owners will quickly take advantage of the situation. Thus, you could be endangering the lives of your innocent family. 

#4: say goodbye to your privacy:

There are things you can conveniently do at home that you won’t be comfortable doing while at work. For instance, you might be against wearing shorts at work but can do so at home. 

You may mistakenly be on your shorts while home, and a client suddenly comes around. Most clients aren’t judgmental, but you cannot tell the ones that aren’t. You could lose your reputation and appear unprofessional to the client. 

Again, the home is for rest. It’s where you retire after a long day at work. If you make your home your place of work, you won’t realize when you start overworking. You may end up using your time for rest to work. 

The worst part is the tendency to procrastinate while running your business at home. Procrastination is even one of the reasons most people whose businesses are home encroach into their resting period. 

#5: Corporate veil:

The corporate veil protects the business owner from any legal action. That’s why a business is treated as a separate entity in law. 

This means the business can be sued, while the owner will go scot-free. The reason is the corporate veil. And it’s for this reason that using your home address for your LLC isn’t advisable. 

When sued, your house, cars, bank savings, and everything tied to the home and business will be confiscated, and you can do nothing. 

So the best step you can take to prevent such from happening is to use an official address for your Limited Liability Company. Avoid any temptation to use your home address. 

You’re running a business, so know that the potential to face legal action from a competitor, client, or partner exists.  

#6: The landlord might be against it:

Since you’re renting, there’s no compelling reason to use your home address. What happens when you move to another apartment in another area? You would have to change your business address. 

You may forget to change your address on some platforms or notify some customers that you have moved to another location. This means you might lose some business opportunities. 

Your landlord’s stand is another reason to avoid using your home address as LLC. Your landlord may have rules or suddenly show resentment against the business. They may feel you’re overusing their property and they would react. 

The Homeowners Association may also be on your neck. They might be against running a business from home. 

Don’t forget that you’re not the only person living on that property. And you’re not the only one paying rent. Others are making the same payments as you are and deserve comfort. Thus, running a business at home may cause disturbance in the neighborhood. 

A Handy Tip: Landlords, including the Home Owners Association, may bend their rules for certain businesses. An example is people who do Freelance or remote workers. 

The beauty about remote or freelance jobs is that clients won’t come to your house. You’re also not selling any physical product that will warrant customers to come around. You do everything online. 

Can You Use A Virtual Office Address For Your LLC?

Yes, you can. Your Virtual Office Address will function as a physical address in this case. It also comes with some pecks, such as renting a Virtual Office. 

The Virtual Office Address is recommended for those who don’t want to use their home address because of security concerns. Using a Virtual Office Address protects your privacy.

Since you didn’t use your home address, any legal action against the business won’t affect your home and properties. 

A Handy Tip: Remember, when registering your business as a Limited Liability Company, a Virtual Office Address isn’t a Registered Agent. 

The only good thing is you can find a Virtual Office that provides one. An example is Starthub. This platform gives you Registered Agent services whereby the address is the same.  

Conclusion

Can I use my home address for my LLC? The answer is yes unless the landlord, homeowner association, or zone prohibits running a business in the zone or at home. 

Using a home address for your LLC comes with several risks. The first is your security. Predators may get their hands on your residential address and come after you. 

Using your home address for LLC doesn’t make sense if you’re in the business for the long haul. You can revisit the article to check why your home and LLC addresses should be separate.