Campaign: Trust transparency
What’s the problem?
Our answers to many socially important questions depend on us knowing who owns what land: can a house be built here? has the UK successfully frozen Vladimir Putin’s assets? who is responsible for the abandoned house on my road?
In England and Wales, if the land in question is owned solely by an individual or company, details of its beneficial owner - the person who controls and benefits from the land - are published by the Land Registry, so our questions can be answered.
But if a private trust is involved in the property’s ownership chain, the public (and sometimes even the police) cannot find out who the beneficial owner is - a lack of transparency that criminals can exploit.
The opportunity
We’re calling for the Government to treat trusts the same as it treats all other landowners. If a trust owns land, its beneficial owners should be recorded centrally and published by default.
This would make it easier to tackle the criminal exploitation of land, create a more efficient planning and development sector, and lead to better-informed policy.
If you want to support our work on this campaign, please get in touch at contact@centreforpublicdata.org.
Publications
Written evidence: Transparency of trusts
February 2024
We responded to the Department for Levelling Up’s consultation on the transparency of land ownership involving trusts.
In line with our briefing, we recommend that the Government publish the beneficial owners of land-owning trusts to create parity with other property owners.
Briefing: Land ownership by trusts
January 2024
This briefing explores the main loophole for land ownership transparency in the UK: trusts.
Understanding who owns land is vital for building houses, tackling financial crime, and various social purposes. Data is published when individuals and companies own land, but when trusts are involved there is a lack of transparency that criminals can exploit.
Report: Gaps in the Register of Overseas Entities
September 2023
Co-written with LSE and the University of Warwick, this report assesses whether new data reforms have been effective in improving the transparency of property ownership.
We identify several major gaps in the data published by Companies House and HM Land Registry, which mean that over 70% of properties in England and Wales held via overseas companies still do not publish information about who really owns them.