{"id":12972,"date":"2023-12-19T17:50:36","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T17:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxpolicy.org.uk\/?p=12972"},"modified":"2023-12-27T13:41:32","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T13:41:32","slug":"oops_i_did_it_again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/2023\/12\/19\/oops_i_did_it_again\/","title":{"rendered":"Douglas Barrowman unlawfully hid the ownership of another company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Douglas Barrowman and Michelle Mone appear to own a house in Belgravia through two BVI companies and a trust. They should all show Barrowman and\/or Mone as the beneficial owner. They don’t. That’s a breach of company law – and potentially a criminal offence<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPDATE 22 December 2023: The Times has reported<\/a> that Barrowman sold the Belgravia house earlier this year for \u00a319m. That doesn’t explain or excuse the failure to correctly report the ownership of the company holding it. The sale doesn’t show up in the land registry. Possibly the sale was recent, the filings were delayed, or the land registry has been slow – it’s also possible that this was not a straightforward sale, but some kind of aggressive arrangement to avoid tax. Barrowman has form<\/a> for this.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, the Times<\/a> and then The Daily Mirror<\/a> reported that Douglas Barrowman and Michelle Mone own (and sometimes live in) a \u00a320m house in Belgravia which is owned by two British Virgin Islands companies called Perree (PTC) Limited and Soldaldo (PTC) Limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the Land Registry entry for their house:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The UK was perhaps the first country in the world requiring foreign companies owning real estate to register their beneficial ownership.1<\/a><\/sup>This follows a recommendation of the Financial Action Tax Force<\/a>. You can access the complete list of foreign companies owning UK real estate here<\/a> – you have to register, and agree to a licence, but it’s free and straightforward.<\/span> The deadline for registration<\/a> of existing ownerships was 31 January 2023. Naturally Barrowman\/Mone didn’t do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rules have some “teeth” – a foreign company that fails to register can’t buy or sell the real estate. Hence, perhaps because Mone\/Barrowman are now selling the house, they registered Perree (PTC) Limited with Companies House<\/a> on 1 March 2023, and Soldaldo (PTC) Limited<\/a> on the same date:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The main purpose of the rules is requiring foreign companies to identify their beneficial owner. Here are the entries for the two companies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Companies are said to hold the property as trustees of the Belgravia Trust. The trust is also on the register of overseas entities<\/a>, bizarrely stated to be a “limited company” (which is almost certainly impossible):2<\/a><\/sup>Trusts aren’t required to be registered. Either the Belgravia Trust has a truly bizarre nature\/structure, or this is a mistake of some kind.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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