Transparency of land ownership involving trusts consultation

Various UK government agencies, including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), HM Treasury, and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have launched a joint consultation on possible measures to improve transparency over real estate holdings by trusts, including REITs. Specifically, the consultation focuses on widening access to trust information held in the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) and on making ownership of land involving trusts more transparent, e.g. by narrowing or eliminating the exemptions of trusts to report information to the Trust Registration Service (TRS) operated by the HMRC. The government is not proposing any policy solutions at this stage, but is seeking input on what data would be most useful for the public and how to best balance data privacy versus public interest in this matter.
Among others, the agencies seek information on
– whether or not it would be beneficial to make public any trust information in the ROE which only gathers information on beneficial ownership of overseas trusts, but does not make it publicly available (so far);
– what type of information should be made publicly available – if so;
– what type of information may not be suitable for public disclosure;
– what information would be most useful for private and public sector entities and organizations; and
– whether or not information on trust ownership should be disclosed for firms that are not subject to the ROE and corresponding notification requirement, including UK trusts.
In this context, it may be worth noting that the ROE ONLY applies to overseas entities and does not list any UK trusts. UK trusts, on the other hand, are typically listed in the TRS unless exempt from the information requirement. The agency also seek feedback on a proposal to apply the information requirement to ALL trusts operating in the UK, regardless of what type of property is owned, how big or small a trust is, or where the trust is located, and what information of such should be made publicly available, if so.
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Comments on this issue may be e-mailed to trusttransparency@levellingup.gov.uk or may be submitted online via this link.