Boodle Hatfield Property Insights, March 2023 - Flipbook - Page 1
Boodle Hatfield
Property Insights
Register of Overseas Entities:
implications for property
transactions
With effect from 1 February 2023, all overseas entities
that own or acquire registered land in the UK (save those
registered as the owner before 1 January 1999) are
required to be registered on the new Register of Overseas
Entities maintained by Companies House. What does
this mean in practice for those looking to buy, let or sell
property?
An overseas entity that has not registered before
the February deadline will be committing a criminal
offence, and the entity and its officers, may face criminal
sanctions in the form of fines or imprisonment. In
addition, an overseas entity that has not registered will,
in practice, be prevented from buying or selling a freehold
or registerable leasehold interest in UK property.
March 2023
”Overseas entities that have not already registered
at Companies House should take immediate steps
to identify any UK land held or UK land that it
intends to acquire and, where appropriate, start
the registration process. The level of complexity
of the information required to complete the
registration will vary from company to company
and a detailed analysis may be required. We are
happy to advise on the application of the relevant
rules and the necessary steps to register.”
Saskia Arthur, Head of Residential Property
MEES: April 1 2023 deadline for
commercial properties
An overseas entity that is disposing of UK property
(including a lease of more than 7 years) will need to
provide its buyer with evidence of its current Overseas
Entity ID. The seller will need to provide this evidence at
an early state of the transaction as the buyer will not be
able to register the purchase of the property at the Land
Registry without evidence of the seller’s Overseas Entity
ID.
Landlords will be familiar with the current Minimum
Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) that require
landlords granting a new lease of commercial premises
to hold an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) with a
rating of E or above (or register a valid exemption). This
requirement will be extended on 1 April 2023 to include
all existing leases of commercial premises. By way
of example, a landlord that currently lets commercial
premises under a 10 year lease granted in 2016 with an
EPC rating of G will need to carry out sufficient energy
efficiency works to improve the EPC to E or above (or
register a valid exemption) before 1 April 2023.
An overseas entity that is buying a UK registered property
(including a lease of more than 7 years) will need to
provide the Land Registry with evidence of its own current
Overseas Entity ID when applying to register a purchase.
The buyer will need to have completed the registration at
the time of the completion of the purchase. The Land
Registry will not register the purchase of the property
without evidence of the buyer’s Overseas Entity ID.
Landlords should be taking steps now, if not already in
hand, to identify any properties that fall below the April
2023 standard and action appropriate works, where
required, to improve energy efficiency (or register a valid
exemption). Whilst non-compliance with MEES does not
invalidate the subject lease, and tenants will be required
to continue to pay rent, non-compliance may result in a
fine for the landlord of up to £150,000 per offence.
Boodle Hatfield LLP
240 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NW, DX 53 Chancery Lane
+44 (0)20 7629 7411 | bh@boodlehatfield.com | www.boodlehatfield.com
