Obligation to register in Register of Oversea Entities (“ROE”)
Under the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, entered into force on the 1
st of August 2022 (“Act”), entities that are governed by the law of a country outside the UK (“Overseas Entities”) and that already own or lease land or property in the UK or want to buy, sell or transfer property in the UK shall be registered with the Companies House and identify their beneficial owners.
The Act applies to Overseas Entities which bought property or land on or after:
i. 1st of January 1999 in England and Wales
ii. 8th of December 2014 in Scotland
iii. 1st August 2022 in Northern Ireland
Entities that disposed of property or land in the UK after the 28th of February 2022 will also need to give details of that dispositions.
Deadline
These Overseas Entities need to be registered with the Companies House by 31st January 2023. If the above applies to your Company, please notify us up until the 20th of January 2023 in order to proceed with registration in the ROE.
Registration in the ROE
On registration, the Overseas Entities will need to provide information about itself, its registrable beneficial owners and in certain instances its managing officers. This information needs to be updated annually.
The information to be submitted by individual beneficial owners is the following:
Beneficial Owner (Individual Person) Information:
- Full name, date of birth and nationality
- Correspondence and home address
- Date at which the individual became beneficial owner of the entity
- Nature of control of the entity
- Whether the individual is on sanctions lists
Verification of information
Prior to registration the information must be verified an independent UK-based agent who is supervised under the UK’s Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.
Availability of Information
Most information about the entity, the beneficial owners and managing officers will be publicly available save from certain personal information such as full date of birth, information about trusts, email and residential addresses.
Penalties
Failure to register the Overseas Entity constitutes a criminal offense and may result to a fine of £2.500 per day or imprisonment for a period up to 5 years.
Additionally, such Overseas Entity will face restrictions in buying, selling, transferring, leasing or charging a property or land.
How can BYBLOSERVE MANAGEMENT LIMITED assist you?
BYBLOSERVE MANAGEMENT LIMITED, through its associates, can assist you in ascertaining whether your entity falls within the scope of the Act and ensuring compliance with the terms of the Act including registration of your Company with the ROE.
For further information and advice, please contact: