Overseas registered companies own £33.9bn of London property

Overseas registered companies own £33.9bn of London property

It has emerged that of the 97,000 properties in England and Wales held by firms registered abroad, almost half of these are located in London.

A vast amount of the UK’s foreign-owned properties can be found in the capital, amounting to £33.9bn, according to the figures analysed by the BBC using data from the Land Registry, with more than 6,000 of these properties situated in Kensington and Chelsea. The south-east has £7.2bn worth of residential and commercial properties owned by foreign-registered companies, followed by the West Midlands and the north-west which both possess £3.1bn of this wealth each.

The figures have made headlines due to the fact that a surprisingly high amount of these properties are owned by companies domiciled in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, a British Overseas Territory, sparking concerns surrounding tax avoidance. The BVIs are the registered home of 23,000 UK properties, despite having a population of just 30,600.

More regulation

There has been a government crackdown against using offshore companies to own residential property in order to avoid paying certain taxes, with more loopholes being closed, and Theresa May has also recently agreed to create an accessible register of all foreign-owned properties in the UK in order to increase transparency and reduce the amount of ill-gotten money being brought into the country.

Mark Giddens, of accountants and consultants UHY Hacker Young, said: “Until April 2017, if you weren’t resident in the UK and held a residential property via a company it was not counted as being an asset for UK-based inheritance tax purposes. So having a property through an offshore company meant you escaped inheritance tax.”

After the BVIs, the channel islands of Jersey and Guernsey own the next highest amounts of property in the UK, with around 21% and 12.5% respectively.

Self-certified Sophisticated Investor

Please read

I declare that I am a self-certified sophisticated investor for the purposes of the restriction on promotion of non-mainstream pooled investments. I understand that this means:

I am a self-certified sophisticated investor because at least one of the following applies:

I accept that the investments to which the promotions will relate may expose me to a significant risk of losing all of the money or other property invested. I am aware that it is open to me seek advice from someone who specialises in advising on non-mainstream pooled investments.

High Net Worth Investor

Please read

I make this statement so that I can receive promotional communications which are exempt from the restriction on promotion of non-mainstream pooled investments. The exemption relates to certified high net worth investors and I declare that I qualify as such because at least one of the following applies to me:

STAY AHEAD OF THE MARKET

Sign up for first access to new developments and exclusive property investment opportunities.

We send limited and targeted emails on new launches and exclusive deals which best fit your areas. We are trusted by over 30,000 active buyers as their source for new stock.

  • New property developments
  • Professional market reports
  • Property deal alerts
  • Development updates
Manchester property investment

FIRST FOR NEWS AND KNOWLEDGE.

Receive trending news straight to your inbox and stay up to date on all of the property market trends and advice.

Established since 2005 we are a leading voice of authority and commentary on the UK property market. Our news is trusted by Apple News & Google News.

  • UK housing market
  • Mortgage & money
  • Buy-to-let landlords
  • Guides & advice

Talk to us

Speak to our UK property experts today:

 

+44 (0) 333 123 0320

Open from 9am-6pm GMT

 

+852 6699 9008

Open from 9am-6pm HKT