Enhanced Business Search Tool Now Available

May 15th, 2017 at 9:50 am

The California Secretary of State (SOS) recently added 10 million records to its Business Search tool, available free-of-charge at Business Search. The SOS is a governmental agency that keeps tracks of companies doing business in California, including corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), and partnerships (but not fictitious business names). In the past, the SOS Business Search tool provided very limited information about a company, such as company type, status, address, date of registration, and agent for service for receiving court documents. Now the Business Search tool also provides access to Statements of Information, Articles of Incorporation, Registration, and other records. These records provide, among other things, the names of the officers and directors in charge of a company.

In our day-to-day practice, we often encounter corporations and LLCs as sellers, buyers, landlords, brokers, business managers, investors, mortgage brokers, vendors, and so on. We cannot tell by looking at the name of a company whether it’s legitimate or whether the people who say they can act or sign on behalf of the company are in fact the authorized representatives. The newly updated SOS Business Search tool will greatly enhance the transparency of the companies with whom we may be considering doing business.

Copyright© 2017 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties (BHHSCP). All rights reserved. Any unauthorized reproduction or use of this material is strictly prohibited. This information is believed to be accurate as of May 15, 2017. It is not intended as a substitute for legal advice in individual situations, and is not intended to nor does it create a standard of care for real estate professionals.

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