What has happened?
From 31 August 2025, information about trusts registered on the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE), that was previously only available to law enforcement and other specified agencies, is now publicly available on request.
However, in anticipation of this change, the circumstances in which it is possible to apply for protection of individual's information have been expanded, and we look at this in more detail.
What is the Register of Overseas Entities?
In 2022, the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act ("the Act"), established the ROE with the aim of increasing transparency about UK land ownership and control in order to help combat money laundering and other financial crimes.
Since then, overseas entities that own or acquire a freehold or leasehold interest over 7 years in land or other property in the UK must register with Companies House and provide information about their registrable beneficial owners or managing officers, in order to obtain an overseas entity ID. This ID allows the Land Registry to register an overseas entity as proprietor of an interest in land.
What is an overseas entity?
An "overseas entity" is a legal entity that is governed by the law of a country or territory outside the UK, for example, a company or other legal person, such as a limited partnership or foundation.
What is a "registrable beneficial owner"?
A "registrable beneficial owner" is a beneficial owner that is not exempt from being registered under the terms of the Act.
A beneficial owner includes a person that holds more than 25% of the shares or more than 25% of the voting rights in the entity. It also includes anyone who has the right (directly or indirectly) to appoint or remove a majority of the board of directors of the overseas entity, or to exercise significant influence or control over that entity.
What happens if a trustee is a registrable beneficial owner?
Where a trustee meets the requirements to be a registrable beneficial owner in relation to an overseas entity, required information must also be provided about the trust, the trustees and, in addition, about beneficiaries, the settlor and any "interested person" in relation to the settlement.
An "interested person" is essentially one who, under the terms of the trust, has rights in respect of the appointment or removal of trustees or the exercise by the trustees of their functions, for example, a Protector.
In addition, any person who has the right to exercise, or actually exercises, significant influence or control over the activities of such a trust would also be a beneficial owner for the purposes of the ROE.
Is the Register of Overseas Entities publicly accessible?
The ROE is publicly accessible. However, some information is "protected information" and will not be made publicly available. For individuals, protected information includes their residential address and the day of the month of their birth.
Up to the end of August 2025, however, access to all information (including, but not limited to, protected information) about beneficiaries, settlors and other interested persons in relation to trusts, where the trustee was a registrable beneficial owner, was restricted to HMRC and other specified public bodies, for example, law enforcement agencies.
What has changed?
Following the passing of the Register of Overseas Entities (Protection and Trusts) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, members of the public may now apply to Companies House to be able to access information about trusts that was previously private (apart from protected information described above).
When applying, they must provide the overseas entity's name and ID and the name of the trust. However, they only need to demonstrate a "legitimate interest" in the information they are requesting if they are making applications about more than one trust, or where part or all of the information being sought relates to a minor. Applicants who need to demonstrate a "legitimate interest" in trust information, for example, to investigate money laundering or tax evasion, will be asked to provide information to show that they are carrying out such an investigation.
They must also provide a written account of why they suspect that any trust is involved in such activity, a statement that they are requesting the information to progress the investigation and one explaining how they are planning to use the trust information released, together with any evidence to support their application.
An application may take up to 8 weeks to be processed, and Companies House may place restrictions on the trust information they share, restricting how it may be used or disclosed. It is an offence not to comply with any such conditions.
Can individuals protect their information?
An application may be made to protect the information (in addition to the protected information described above) of a "relevant individual", i.e. anyone whose information is or may be made available for public inspection or disclosed by the registrar of companies if they, or someone who lives with them, is at risk of harm or intimidation if their information becomes available to the public.
Those who may apply include a beneficial owner, a managing officer of an entity, or a trust member, the latter being a beneficiary, settlor, grantor, or other interested party of a trust. Among other details, such applications will need to include details about the risk of harm, and provide supporting evidence.
Someone who has authority to act on behalf of a trust member because they are either a minor (aged under 18 years) or lack capacity to act on their own behalf, may make an application to protect the information of such a person. In such a case, the applicant will need to provide evidence to confirm the trust member is either a minor or lacks capacity, but they will not need to provide evidence of a risk of harm or intimidation.
What next?
Whether you wish to apply for trust information from the ROE, or to protect your or someone else's trust information from disclosure, information on how to make an application is available from Companies House.
If you have any questions about this or any other aspect of the ROE, please get in touch with your usual Howard Kennedy contact, or a member of our Private Client team.
Nothing in this note constitutes legal advice to any person.
