Landlords who feel recent laws have singled them out may be interested to know that one group of property owners appears to have avoided significant regulation. 

An investigation by the BBC and a group called Transparency International shows that owners of around 50,000 UK properties held by foreign companies remain hidden from public view, despite new laws.

The Register of Overseas Entities, launched in August 2022, was meant to reveal who ultimately owns UK property. Overseas companies with property in the UK – bought since January 1999 in England and Wales and since December 2014 in Scotland – were supposed to reveal the identity of their owners by January 31 

But the BBC and Transparency International found almost half of firms required to declare who is behind them failed to do so.

The law allowed overseas organisations that already owned land in the UK were given a six-month period to do reveal their beneficial owners; properties newly purchased by overseas buyers would have to confirm immediately.

However the analysis suggests that some 18,000 offshore companies, which between them hold more than 50,000 properties in England and Wales, either ignored the law or filed information in such a way that it remains impossible to know who the individuals are who ultimately own and benefit from them.

“While the register is starting to serve its intended purpose, our analysis reveals there are far too many companies that could be trying to skirt the rules, not knowing they exist, or ignoring them altogether” says Duncan Hames, Director of Policy at Transparency International UK.