What three luxury homes reveal about who owns UK property

Owners of astir 50,000 UK properties held by overseas companies stay hidden from nationalist view, contempt caller transparency laws.

The Register of Overseas Entities, launched successful August 2022, was meant to uncover who yet owns UK property.

But investigation by BBC News and Transparency International recovered astir fractional of firms required to state who is down them failed to bash so.

Labour MP Margaret Hodge said the authorities was not "fit for purpose".

A UK authorities spokesperson said the registry has been an "invaluable root of accusation for instrumentality enforcement, and taxation and gross services".

The UK authorities has agelong promised to ace down connected "corrupt elites" from overseas, including "Russian oligarchs and kleptocrats", utilizing UK spot to launder amerciable wealth.

Ministers insisted they would ace down connected overseas criminals utilizing UK spot to launder wealth by ensuring they "can't fell down secretive chains of ammunition companies".

As a result, nether a instrumentality passed successful February 2022 successful effect to Russia's penetration of Ukraine, ministers said anonymous overseas companies seeking to bargain UK onshore oregon spot would beryllium required to uncover afloat details of the individuals who yet owned them. Overseas organisations that already owned onshore successful the UK were fixed a six-month play to bash the same.

Now that six-month grace play is up - each the people, immoderate their reputations, down companies that ain thousands of British properties should person been uncovered for the archetypal time.

The BBC and Transparency International matched thousands of filings from the caller registry with Land Registry records. This investigation suggests that immoderate 18,000 offshore companies - which betwixt them clasp much than 50,000 properties successful England and Wales - either ignored the instrumentality altogether oregon filed accusation successful specified a mode that it remains intolerable for the nationalist to find retired who the individuals are who yet ain and payment from them.

"While the registry is starting to service its intended purpose, our investigation reveals determination are acold excessively galore companies that could beryllium trying to skirt the rules, not knowing they exist, oregon ignoring them altogether," says Duncan Hames, Director of Policy astatine Transparency International UK.

To recognize however the instrumentality is and isn't working, it helps to look astatine 3 precise costly properties. The archetypal is simply a brace of luxury apartments. Another is simply a sprawling £48m property successful northbound London, the 3rd a £10m state mansion.

All person been linked successful immoderate mode to figures connected with Vladimir Putin's regime.

For instance, look astatine the 2 luxury flats successful cardinal London worthy an estimated £11m.

Their ownership by the erstwhile Russian lawman premier minister, Igor Shuvalov, was archetypal reported by the Anti-Corruption Foundation, acceptable up by jailed Russian absorption person Alexei Navalny.

According to the UK government, who placed him nether authorisation successful March 2022, Mr Shuvalov - who heads the absorption committee of a Russian slope - is "a halfway portion of Putin's interior circle".

And present the registry has confirmed that helium and his woman are the eventual owners of the flats, held done a Russian company, Sova Real Estate LLC.

Mr Shuvalov's spokesperson told the BBC past twelvemonth that these issues "have been the taxable of competent authorities audits", and that "no complaints were ever filed".

But portion determination are thousands of examples wherever the registry is working, the eventual ownership of thousands of properties remains shielded from nationalist view.

Take Beechwood House, a northbound London property bought for £48m successful 2008 with a worth astir £85m.

After Russia's penetration of Ukraine 12 months ago, the UK authorities came down hard connected affluent businessmen adjacent to Putin's regime. Assets were frozen, stopping affluent Russians from taking their wealth retired of the UK.

But it wasn't ever wide precisely which assets belonged to these oligarchs.

For instance, Beechwood House was listed by the authorities arsenic owned by oligarch and ex-Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov erstwhile it announced sanctions against him.

A spokesperson for the oligarch has present told the BBC that helium transferred Beechwood House, arsenic good arsenic different assets, to household trusts "long earlier sanctions were imposed" and that portion Mr Usmanov was a beneficiary for a play of time, helium withdrew "on an irrevocable basis".

The spokesperson added: "Neither Mr Usmanov nor members of his household are the beneficial owners of these companies."

You would deliberation the registry should shed airy connected who really owns Beechwood House. But it does not.

The proprietor is fixed arsenic Hanley Limited, an Isle of Man company. And successful crook the beneficial proprietor of Hanley Limited is Swiss institution Pomerol Capital SA, which controls it arsenic portion of a spot structure.

However, thing astir the individuals who ain Pomerol Capital is listed connected the nationalist register.

That is due to the fact that companies owned done trusts - arsenic opposed to different set-ups - are exempt from having their beneficial proprietor accusation made nationalist connected the register.

So from the filing, it is intolerable to place the radical who own, power oregon basal to payment from Beechwood House- a spot that the authorities itself said was owned by Mr Usmanov, which would person made it taxable to an plus freeze.

While the names of individuals linked to trusts are not included successful the register, companies bash person to supply their details privately to the firm registry Companies House.

And galore different owners person recovered an adjacent much straightforward means of keeping their names disconnected the registry - by simply not complying with the caller legislation.

Overseas companies with spot successful the UK - bought since January 1999 successful England and Wales and since December 2014 successful Scotland - were expected to uncover the individuality of their owners by 31 January.

But astir fractional of offshore firms with spot successful England and Wales - astir 15,000 - had nary matching grounds successful the spot registry earlier past week's authorities deadline.

This includes the institution that owns a £90m location successful westbound London linked with erstwhile Chelsea proprietor Roman Abramovich. The Cyprus-based steadfast does not yet look to person submitted its details to the spot register.

Mr Abramovich could not beryllium reached for comment.

As good arsenic the firms that are yet to file, BBC investigation has recovered that 1 successful 4 offshore companies that person submitted their details person really included different overseas firms, not people, arsenic their owners.

Some of these are owned by trusts, arsenic with Beechwood House.

But that is not the lone mode successful which companies are avoiding publically disclosing the individuals who are really down them.

And determination is simply a 3rd class - companies that person filed their details to the spot register, but person not complied with the rules.

The BBC's probe has identified much than 1,800 companies whose filings bash not look to bash so.

Among these is Uart International, a Panamanian institution that, according to Land Registry records, acquired a countryside mansion successful 2008.

As portion of the Pandora Papers, a leak of astir 12 cardinal files, the spot was owned done an offshore firm web controlled by Vladimir Chernukhin and his wife, Lubov.

Mr Chernukhin is simply a erstwhile Russian lawman curate of concern and businessman who had fiscal links to oligarchs adjacent to the Kremlin. He moved to the UK aft being sacked by Putin successful 2004 and insists helium is not a protagonist of the Russian president.

His woman Lubov, whom helium joined successful London successful 2007, is simply a large donor to the Conservative Party, having fixed the Tories much than £2.3m since 2012.

Companies House records amusement that Uart International lists different overseas steadfast arsenic its "person of important control". This means that the individuals who yet ain the spot stay hidden from the nationalist register, contempt the alteration successful the legislation.

Under the caller regulations, different anonymous offshore steadfast should not beryllium named arsenic the proprietor of a institution with UK property.

There is nary denotation successful the filings that the institution proprietor is simply a trustee, which would exempt the steadfast from having their idiosyncratic of important power revealed connected the registry - suggesting it could beryllium a usurpation of the rules.

Lawyers for the mates told the BBC that "Mr and Mrs Chernukhin bash not support, and person ne'er supported, the policies of President Putin, nor are they allies of President Putin" and that they are "unaware of Uart ever having made firm filings contrary to the applicable rules and regulations successful each applicable jurisdictions".

While the caller rules see terrible penalties for companies and individuals who bash not comply, experts person questioned whether this volition work.

"Although the authorities contains immoderate stringent penalties for non-compliance, the authorities has failed to equip Companies House with the teeth and resources to use these successful practice," says Helena Wood, caput of the UK Economic Crime Programme astatine the Royal United Services Institute deliberation tank.

Margaret Hodge MP, seat of the all-party parliamentary radical connected anti-corruption and liable tax, said the caller registry was "turning into a joke".

She added: "We request to cognize who owns these fantastically costly properties, wherefore they bought them and however they got the wealth to bash so."

A authorities spokesperson said that Companies House was present "assessing and preparing cases for enforcement action" and further authorities would let it to enforce fines and prosecute ineligible avenues against companies that are flouting the law.

Additional reporting by Liana Bravo, graphics by Jana Tauschinski