Almost 13,000 offshore companies owning UK property have not declared their true ownership on a government register.
By the deadline of Tuesday night, 19,510 out of a total of 32,440 registered overseas organisations had declared their beneficial owners. The remainder now face fines and a ban on selling their land.
Among those that were declared was Ruja Ignatova, the “cryptoqueen” scammer who features on the FBI’s most wanted list. Her OneCoin crypto business was, in fact, an old-fashioned pyramid scheme.
She has been publicly declared the beneficial owner of two intermediaries in Guernsey and is believed to own a £13.5m penthouse in London and a £1.9m property in Kensington.
The new register, which requires previously anonymous foreign owners or buyers of UK property to reveal their identities, was set up through the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 last spring.
Explainer: Registration requirements for overseas entities >>
Any new purchase involving anonymous foreign buyers must now disclose the beneficial owners to Companies House before any application can be made to the UK’s various land registries. All retrospective purchases of properties and land by anonymous overseas entities in England since 1999 had to be entered into the register by Tuesday night.
Business minister Lord Callanan said: “There is nowhere for the criminals and corrupt elites to hide. We will be using all the tools at our disposal, including fines and restrictions, to crack down on foreign companies who have not complied.”
Unregistered companies have been automatically rejected from registering ownership of any new land by HM Land Registry. Any UK buyers will be unable to transfer their title to the deed of any property purchased from non-compliant organisations, frustrating attempts to sell.
Companies House is also assessing and preparing cases for enforcement action. Further regulations will empower Companies House to impose financial penalties on land owned by non-compliant organisations, as well as pursue other legal avenues.
Louise Smyth, chief executive at Companies House, said: “We cannot be clearer in our message to these entities; if you ignored warnings and fail to register before the deadline, you will face consequences. This includes not only the prospect of restrictions on your land or property but also a possible fine, prison sentence, or both.”
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