An Introduction To The Register of the UK’s Overseas Entities

The UK’s Register of Overseas Entities

In 2022, Companies House set up the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE), which was also the first of its kind in the world. This requires overseas entities who own UK property to identify who their registrable beneficial owners are, register their details with Companies House, and keep these details up to date. The two main objectives of ROE are to help combat money laundering and achieve greater transparency in the UK property market.

Most of the information given to Companies House about overseas entities, beneficial owners and managing officers will be publicly available on the Register of Overseas Entities.

Companies House will not show

• home addresses
• full dates of birth – only the month and year will be shown
• the agent assurance code
• the date verification checks were completed
• information about trusts, however it may be shared with HMRC
• email addresses

What happens after an overseas entity is registered?

If the application is accepted, the overseas entity and its beneficial owners and managing officers will be added to the Register of Overseas Entities.

Companies House will also email the notice of registration to the overseas entity. This will include the Overseas Entity ID, which must be given to the Land Registry whenever the entity buys, sells or transfers land or property in the UK.

If the application is rejected, we’ll email you to let you know what to do next and refund the £100 registration fee.

Who can verify the information for an overseas entity ?

A UK-regulated agent must complete verification checks on all beneficial owners and managing officers of an overseas entity before it can be registered with Companies House.

They must be based in the UK and supervised under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017. They can be an individual or a corporate entity, such as a financial institution or legal professional.

The UK Government was last published a *list of UK-regulated agents who are in a position to verify the ownership details for overseas entity. We are pleased to announce that we are one of these agents who can work on this task. Please do contact us for details if you need our assistance with this. 

*Companies House does not endorse or accept any liability for these agents, or for any services they provide. This list is not exhaustive – other agents are available.