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Overseas Entity Registration

Under UK law, you need to register information about your overseas company and its beneficial owners

According to land registry data, you may own or lease property or land in the UK as an overseas entity. The Register of Overseas Entities has come into force in the UK through the new Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022. It means you must register the overseas entity with Companies House and tell us who your beneficial owners are.

After registering with Companies House, the details of the overseas entity and its beneficial owners will be available to the public on the online register. Although most overseas entities who own land in the UK are not breaking the law, greater transparency will allow law enforcement agencies to investigate suspicious wealth more effectively.

Companies House is an executive agency of the UK government and the UK’s registry of company information.

Why it’s important to register

Once registered, you’ll get a unique overseas entity ID. When you buy, sell, transfer, lease or charge property or land in the UK, you’ll need to give this to:

  • HM Land Registry – for property or land in England and Wales

If you do not comply with the Act—you could be fined up to £2,500 per day or get a prison sentence of up to 5 years. You’ll also face restrictions when buying, selling, transferring, leasing or charging property or land in the UK.

How to register an overseas entity and its beneficial owners

It’s quicker and easier to ask a UK-regulated agent to register and file the information for

UK-regulated agents include accountants and legal professionals supervised under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017.

You or your agent will need to:

  • sign in to or create a Companies House account
  • give a name and email address of someone we can contact about the application
  • give information about the overseas entity and its beneficial owners or managing officers
  • give the assurance code of the agent who checked your identity
  • pay the £100 registration fee with a credit or debit card

If there are no beneficial owners, you’ll need to provide information about the overseas entity’s managing officers. A managing officer is a director, manager, or company secretary of the overseas entity.