Guidance

Register of Overseas Entities: guidance on registration and verification

Technical guidance for understanding the Register of Overseas Entities and the requirements it places on overseas entities that own land within the UK.

Documents

Details

This guidance provides an overview of the Register of Overseas Entities and the requirements that the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 places on overseas entities. It describes the process by which these requirements can be satisfied, including guidance on the verification mechanism. It should be read in conjunction with the legislation and should not be relied on wholly without reference to the relevant legislation.

This guidance is for:

  • overseas entities
  • individuals who are beneficial owners of overseas entities that own land in the UK
  • their professional advisors

Additional guidance on the operation of the Register is available on the Companies House site.

The Land Registries also provide guidance relating to the specificities of land registration within their territories and the ways in which the Register of Overseas Entities affects this:

Updates to this page

Published 1 August 2022
Last updated 25 July 2024 + show all updates
  1. PDF updated to include a section on removal from the register process.

  2. Update of PDF attachment to reflect guidance changes on identifying foreign limited partners as beneficial owners. Additionally, further changes made to rectification, dispositions, financial penalties, and protected information.

  3. Guidance updated to include new sections on information required about trusts, the annual update duty, and sanctions for non-compliance to the Act.

  4. First published.

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