Converting a company between limited by guarantee and limited by shares is not a straightforward re-registration — unlike private-to-public conversions, UK company law does not provide a single, direct route for this specific change.

Companies House's re-registration forms (RR01–RR09) cover specific, defined conversions set out in the Companies Act 2006 — for example private company to public company (RR01), public to private (RR02), and private limited to/from unlimited (RR05/RR06). None of these forms directly covers converting a company limited by guarantee into a company limited by shares, or vice versa — this conversion isn't catered for as a single-step re-registration in the way other type changes are.

In practice, some advisers describe an indirect, two-stage route: re-registering the company as unlimited first, then re-registering from unlimited to the target type (limited by shares or limited by guarantee). This is a complex process with real restrictions — for example, a company can typically only make this kind of conversion once — and whether it's available at all depends on the specific company's circumstances.

Because of this complexity, and because getting it wrong can have serious, hard-to-reverse consequences for the company's legal structure and members' rights, this isn't something to action from guidance alone. Take advice from a solicitor or company law specialist on whether a conversion is possible for your company and, if so, the correct route and forms — and confirm the current position directly with Companies House before proceeding.

Inform Direct does not support or facilitate any part of this conversion — there's no electronic filing for it, and no dedicated resolution templates for this specific scenario in the Template Library.