Correspondence

Letter to property address owned or leased by an overseas entity (sent January 2023)

Updated 16 March 2023

What does this mean?

This property is owned or leased by an overseas entity, but they have not registered with Companies House.

Will I need to do anything?

Get in touch with the overseas entity that owns or leases your property. They need to register information about their beneficial owners by 31 January 2023.

For more information, visit: gov.uk/guidance/register-an-overseas-entity

Records show that this property is owned or leased by an overseas entity. They have not registered information about this overseas entity and its beneficial owners.

In August 2022, the Register of Overseas Entities came into force in the UK. It means overseas entities that own or lease property or land in the UK must register with Companies House and tell us who their beneficial owners are.

According to land registry data, this property is owned or leased by an overseas entity. Overseas entities still need to register if they disposed of this property after 28 February 2022, if this property has not been registered with the land registry yet, or if the entity is based in a Crown Dependency or an Overseas Territory (for example, Jersey).

If you think you’ve received this letter by mistake, pass it on to the owner of your property or contact Companies House or the relevant land registry for help. Do not ignore this letter.

Visit: gov.uk/guidance/register-an-overseas-entity

If your property or land is in Scotland, you still need to register on the Scottish Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCI) if you meet the necessary conditions – in addition to registering on the Register of Overseas Entities. For more information on the RCI, visit: ros.gov.uk/register-of-overseas-entities

If the overseas entity that owns or leases your property does not comply with the Act—they could get a fine, a prison sentence or both. They’ll also face restrictions when buying, selling, transferring, leasing or charging property or land in the UK, including the property at this address.

How to register an overseas entity and its beneficial owners

Please pass this information on to the overseas entity that owns or leases this property.

It’s quicker and easier to ask a UK-regulated agent to register and file the information for you. UK-regulated agents include accountants and legal professionals supervised under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017. We’ve published a list of suitable agents on GOV.UK.

Visit: gov.uk/ch/register-overseas-entities

Overseas entitles or their agents must register online by 31 January 2023.

To register and for more information, visit: gov.uk/ch/register-overseas-entities

Overseas entities or their agents will need to:

• sign in to or create a Companies House account
• give a name and email address of someone we can contact about the application
• give information about the overseas entity and its beneficial owners or managing officers
• give the assurance code of the agent who checked their identity
• pay the £100 registration fee with a credit or debit card

If there are no beneficial owners, they’ll need to provide information about the overseas entity’s managing officers. A managing officer is a director, manager, or company secretary of the overseas entity.

Trusts and trustees

If any trustees of a trust are registrable beneficial owners, overseas entities also need to give information about that trust. This includes details about the beneficiaries, settlors, grantors, and interested persons. It also includes each person who has ever been a beneficial owner in relation to the overseas entity, by being a trustee of the trust.

Trust information is only shared with law enforcement and other public authorities such as HM Revenue & Customs. It will not be available to the public.

More information

Companies House is an executive agency of the UK government and the UK’s registry of company information. The data on our registers informs business decisions, supports growth and combats economic crime.

We cannot give technical advice or help with identifying your beneficial owners or managing officers. You’ll need to seek independent advice.

You can ignore this letter if you’ve recently registered this overseas entity and its beneficial owners.

Louise Smyth

Chief Executive, Registrar of Companies for England and Wales