Overseas Entities Register: Wider Access to Trust Information From June 2026

Overseas Entities Register: Wider Access to Trust Information From June 2026

Since June 2026, anyone applying to Companies House for trust information held on the overseas entities register no longer has to supply the name of the trust. The change came in with the Register of Overseas Entities (Protection and Trusts) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Company Law) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, which widen what a search of the register can put in front of a litigator. For solicitors tracing value that has moved into offshore structures owning UK land, this is a practical shift in a public source of ownership data, and it is worth knowing exactly what the register will and will not give up.

What the overseas entities register is

The register of overseas entities was created by the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 and expanded under later reforms. Any overseas entity that owns, or wants to buy, land in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland must register and give details of its registrable beneficial owners. Where a trust sits inside that ownership chain, the entity has to provide information about the trust, its settlor, trustees and beneficiaries. That trust information has always been collected, but public access to it was tightly restricted, and an outsider chasing a hidden interest often could not reach it at all.

What changed in June 2026

The 2026 Regulations open that door wider. Until now, a third party asking Companies House to disclose trust information had to name the trust in the application, a detail that someone outside the structure rarely knows. Under the new rules, an applicant can ask for trust information using only the overseas entity name and its Companies House registration number. Access can also be granted where one or more of the people involved is under 18, a situation that previously blocked some requests outright. The regulations were made and came into force in June 2026, so the overseas entities register already works this way for searches run today.

How an asset search uses the overseas entities register

For asset tracing, the register connects a piece of UK property to the individuals standing behind the entity that holds it. Removing the trust-name barrier matters because a tracing agent usually starts from the property, the company or a known individual, not from the formal name of a trust buried in the paperwork. A searcher can now begin with the overseas entity and follow the ownership through to the trust layer, then test that against other records. It is one more route for confirming who ultimately benefits from an asset, and one fewer obstacle when a defendant has tried to keep that link out of sight.

 

What the register still does not show

The register is a starting point, not a full financial picture. It records beneficial owners, managing officers and, now more openly, trust details, but it does not value the property, show mortgages or charges, or capture assets that sit outside UK land. Its accuracy depends on what entities have actually filed, and the identity verification regime that supports it is still bedding in. Read against the Land Registry, corporate filings and open-source material, it gives a far more reliable account than any single source taken on its own.

Where a trace goes next

On its own, a register entry rarely settles a question of recovery. The value is in corroboration. A professional trace cross-checks the register against title records, company accounts, litigation history and other data, then sets out plainly what can be evidenced and what remains an inference. For a solicitor weighing a freezing application or an enforcement step, that line between confirmed holdings and suspected ones is often what the decision turns on, and it is a line worth drawing before any application is made.

If you are tracing assets held through an overseas entity and need the ownership picture pinned down, speak to the Tremark asset tracing team and use the enquiry form below to get in touch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can access trust information on the overseas entities register?

Any member of the public can apply to Companies House for trust information, and since June 2026 they no longer need to name the trust. The entity name and its registration number are enough to make the request, though the disclosure of some trust detail still depends on the access rules being met.

Does the register show every asset an entity owns?

No. It covers UK land held through the entity and the people behind it. Assets held elsewhere, or through other structures, will not appear and need separate tracing. Our guide on what an asset search can and cannot tell you explains the limits in more detail.

Is a company search the same as an asset trace?

No. A company search reads what is filed on a register at a moment in time. An asset trace gathers and corroborates information from many sources to build a defensible, up-to-date view of what a person or entity actually holds.