Is it legal to email a new limited company about your services?
Updated 15 September 2026 · by Matt Vallis, Salenovo · numbers from the Companies House public register
Yes, in most cases — provided you say who you are and offer a way to opt out. The UK's marketing-email rules (PECR) require prior consent only for individual subscribers. A limited company or LLP is a corporate subscriber, so you may email it about your services without consent, as long as the message identifies you and gives a valid address for opt-outs, and you honour any opt-out you receive. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships are individuals and do need consent or the soft opt-in.
The rules, in order
PECR regulation 22 is the one people worry about: it bans unsolicited marketing email to individual subscribers without consent. It does not apply to corporate subscribers — companies, LLPs, Scottish partnerships, government bodies. Regulation 23 applies to everyone: every marketing email must not disguise or conceal who sent it, and must give a valid address to which the recipient can send an opt-out. UK GDPR applies whenever an email address identifies a person — jane@acme.co.uk is personal data even though Acme Ltd is a company — so you need a lawful basis, which for business-to-business marketing is normally legitimate interests, and you must stop when the person objects. A generic mailbox (info@, hello@) usually is not personal data at all.
What that means in practice
- Write to the company at its generic business mailbox, or by post to its registered office. Say who you are, in the email, with your company's name, registered number and address in the footer.
- Offer an opt-out in the email itself — "reply STOP" is enough — and keep a list of everyone who has opted out. Never email them again, from any list.
- Keep it relevant: a new company being offered an accountant, insurance, a website or a card terminal is exactly the kind of message the legitimate-interests basis anticipates. A short note about what you noticed and one clear offer is both more lawful and more effective than a brochure.
- Check the recipient is a company. The register tells you; a trading name found in a directory does not. Salenovo's lists contain only companies and LLPs from the Companies House register, which is why no sole traders appear in them.
- Do not buy or scrape named individuals' addresses. Director names and home addresses are on the register, but using them for marketing carries far more risk than writing to the company, and it is not necessary.
Telephone and post
Post to a company's registered office is not covered by PECR at all; UK GDPR still applies if the letter names a person. Live sales calls to a company are permitted unless the number is on the Corporate Telephone Preference Service, which you must screen against; automated calls always need consent.
What Salenovo does to make this easy
Business-to-business email to a limited company or LLP is permitted under PECR without prior consent, provided you say who you are and offer an opt-out. Every row says where the address came from. No director names, no home addresses. Every row in the weekly list carries the source and date of the contact route ("info@ found on acmewidgets.co.uk/contact, 11 September 2026"), so that a subscriber can show where an address came from. Companies can ask to be left out at any time on the removal page, and subscribers agree in the terms to identify themselves, offer an opt-out and tell us when they receive one.
This page explains the rules as Salenovo understands them in September 2026; it is not legal advice. The ICO's direct-marketing guidance is the authoritative source.
Questions people also ask
Can I email a director at their company email address?
Usually yes under PECR, because the subscriber is the company; but the address is personal data, so UK GDPR applies — you need a legitimate interest, must tell them where you got the address if asked, and must stop when they object. Writing to the company's generic mailbox avoids most of that.
Do I need consent to email a sole trader?
Yes. A sole trader or an ordinary partnership is an individual subscriber under PECR, so you need consent or the soft opt-in (an existing customer relationship). This is why lists built from Companies House contain only companies and LLPs.
What must a B2B marketing email contain?
Who you are (your company's name, registered number and address), a genuine reply address, and a way to opt out that works. Nothing in the message may disguise the sender.
Is it legal to write to a new company by post?
Yes. Post to a registered office is outside PECR. If the letter is addressed to a named person, UK GDPR applies as it would to an email, so keep an opt-out list and honour it.