Proposals To Increase Transparency Of Land Ownership Involving Trusts

The government has launched a consultation, Transparency of land ownership involving trusts, on the proposed public disclosure of trust and beneficial ownership information where trusts are involved in UK land ownership structures. The consultation closes on 21 February 2024.

There are currently three main regimes in the UK that seek to address the transparency of ownership of assets:

• the People with Significant Control (PSC) regime – UK incorporated companies and LLPs are required to notify their beneficial owners to Companies House. The information is then publicly available on the register of companies maintained by Companies House;
• the Trust Registration Service (TRS) – UK trusts and certain qualifying non-UK trusts are required to file trust information with HMRC. This information is not generally available to the public; and
• the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) – overseas entities that are registered proprietors of UK land must register with Companies House and in doing so provide information on their beneficial owners. Most of this information is publicly available on the ROE maintained by Companies House. Detailed information in relation to trusts that are the beneficial owners of overseas entities must be filed with Companies House, but some of this information is not available to the public (read more in our briefing here).

Therefore these regimes together do not provide for public disclosure of the beneficial ownership information in relation to trusts. The government considers this to be a gap, particularly in respect of the ownership of UK land.

The government has confirmed that (as provided for by the ECCTA – see item 1 above) it will be introducing regulations later this year that will facilitate access to the trust information held by Companies House as part of the ROE. The consultation seeks views on whether such ROE trust information should be publicly available by default (i.e. no application would be needed).

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