What’s New?
The ROE was introduced in August 2022 and most non-UK entities which own UK real estate must register on the ROE and in doing so their registrable beneficial owners. Where the entity’s beneficial owner is a Trustee of a Trust, relevant information about that Trust (including the identity of the Settlor and Beneficiaries) must be provided. Information on the Trusts was generally not publicly accessible but following changes to the regime effective from 31 August 2025, it is now possible for any member of the public to make an application for the disclosure of Trust information held on the ROE, albeit subject to certain restrictions.
The latest regulations set out in The Register of Overseas Entities (Protection and Trusts) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Company Law) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 which came into force on 6 July 2026 now amend the current rules in three principal ways:
- Under the previous rules, Companies House could not release any Trust information on any application if the name of the Trust was not provided. Under the new regulations, it would no longer be necessary to specify the name of the Trust to access Trust information, which represents a significant change and opens the door potentially to enquiries of a more speculative nature.
- Accessing information relating to an individual under the age of 18 is not permissible unless the applicant determines a legitimate interest (i.e. investigating money laundering or terrorist financing). Presently Companies House would in addition to not disclosing information about the minor, also suppress other information relating to the affected Trust. Under the new rules, Companies House will now be able to disclose any information regarding the relevant Trust that does not concern the minor, regardless of whether or not the legitimate interest test is satisfied.
- Formerly an application to suppress an individual’s home address on the public ROE was required to set out the grounds for the request and required the applicants to provide supporting evidence. It did not, however, require the applicant to provide a replacement address. Applicants are no longer required to submit supporting evidence as part of the application but must now provide a replacement service address for correspondence purposes when requesting the removal of a home address from the ROE. There are limited exceptions to this requirement such as in instances where the application relates to an overseas entity that has been removed from the ROE or if the relevant individual is no longer the beneficial owner or managing officer of the entity.
What Action should be considered?
Affected parties may wish to review relevant structures and consider filing a protection application (if they have not already done so) to prevent public disclosure of their information.
What else is new in terms of the TRS? Amendments to the UK AML Regulations on the TRS are now in force
In addition to the above, amendments to the rules for filing Trust information on the TRS set out in The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026 came into force on 30 June 2026. They expand the categories of Trusts required to register on the TRS, bringing additional types of Trusts within scope while also introducing new exclusions for trusts that are low-value, low-risk, inappropriate or related to estate administration.
The TRS is an online register managed by HMRC recording the details of most Trusts in the UK and many overseas Trusts with UK connections. This includes information relating to the Settlor, Trustees, Beneficiaries and assets to comply with Anti-Money Laundering obligations. Registration also secures a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) for the Trust.
In terms of the new measures, non-UK express Trusts holding an interest in UK land acquired before 6 October 2020 and continuing to hold that interest must register with the TRS by 1 September 2027, rather than within the usual 90 day period. Formerly these types of Trusts did not need to register if the property interest was held prior to 6 October 2020, unless they became taxable in the UK.
In addition, all non-UK express Trusts holding UK land are to be brought within the TRS data sharing rules, so information regarding all such trusts holding UK land will be available to the public on request, subject to a legitimate interest test being satisfied.
A new group of excluded Trusts is also now introduced with effect from 30 June 2026. This exclusion applies to any Trusts that:
- Are not liable for relevant UK taxes, i.e. Income Tax, CGT, IHT, SDLT (England and Northern Ireland)/LBTT (Scotland)/LTT (Wales);
- Do not own or have any interest in UK land;
- Do not hold more than £10,000 in assets since the date it was established;
- Do not have more than £5,000 in annual income; and
- Do not have more than £2,000 of appreciable non-financial assets such as art, antiques, collectibles or jewellery.
What should we do now as Trustees?
If any of the above thresholds are exceeded the Trust becomes registrable at that time. Equally, existing Trusts which meet the above criteria and qualify as smaller value Trusts can be deregistered from the Trust Register.
It is apparent the 2026 Regulations will bring more types of Trust within the scope of the TRS and Trustees of affected structures may wish to consider the impact of the changes and whether any Trust is within scope. We can support any TRS registrations or relevant updates, where necessary.
If you require advice in relation to the contents of this Briefing Note, please contact Chris Cooke, Karen Methold or Robert Drysdale in our Wealth Planning team.