Ministers have vowed to “crack down on corruption in the property sector” by exposing the owners of land trusts.
As 2023 drew to a close, the government launched a consultation on proposals to improve the transparency of trust information, by revealing the ultimate owners of all land.
Levelling up secretary Michael Gove said: “It matters who really owns land and property. It matters for how and where we build our homes, grow our food, and power our country.”
He added: “These proposals will lift the veil of secrecy currently afforded to land-holding trusts. Transparency about land ownership is crucial if we want to make our housing and land markets fairer. In its absence, injustices, corruption and crime can flourish.”
The consultation will run for eight weeks and seeks views on widening access to trust information held on the Register of Overseas Entities and on how ownership of land involving trusts can be made more transparent.
The changes aim to make it as easy as possible for people to access all land and property ownership data across the range of different public registers, providing as much free and readily available information as possible.
Currently, the identity of the beneficiary is not always recorded or publicly available, potentially leading to secrecy or corruption in the sector, a government spokesperson said.
Changes will build on transparency powers announced in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act to demand more information on land and property ownership and look behind the legal ownership of property to find the true ultimate ownership.
To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews
