I had missed Private Eye register of offshore land holdings in the UK. But now I will make amends. This is a fascinating and excellent piece of research showing just what land in the UK was bought offshore between 2005 and 2014.
Some will probably be closer than you think. This is an extract of the map for Downham Market, my part of the world. And right next to one of the dog's walks is a great big patch of Jersey owned land:
Offshore is closer than you think.
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The right time to remind people that next Monday BBC 1 19.30 is a Tv show
http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/d4gqr5/panorama–tax-havens-of-the-rich–powerful-exposed—panorama
Thanks
You’re not wrong Richard,
I just checked my location on the map you linked to… There was the expected supermarkets, banks & shopping centre. More interestingly a cluster of residential housing I too regularly walk the dog past!
What a scary map! My previous ‘neck of the woods’ was South Devon and, yes, offshore ownership seems alive and well even down there. Well done for promoting that excellent Private Eye research. I can feel a post coming along. Maybe under the heading of “Dog walks in the Channel Islands”.
I believe that the Eye was given the info by mistake and the source is now closed. When they sell of the Land Registry none of us will be able to find out who owns our land. So much for democracy.
I’ve just checked my area. About 5 miles away there’s a HUGE area (about 16-20 sq miles) of farmland, which has been bought by a Jersey-based company since 2008. It consists of a number of farms, but the same company.
How I wish I knew more about property law! As far as I know, the land is still being farmed BUT it’s in an area which is facing considerable pressure for building land, partly as a result of Stansted airport. I follow the squabbles of the local council (when it’s not too childish and NIMBYish). It would appear that the government has told the area it needs to build at least 10,000 new houses over the next decade and people are coming round to the idea that a new town would be the best option.
Just found out that it’s in the ‘local plan’ as an area suitable for housing and the expectation is that there will be residential building over the next few years. So will UK tax be paid when/if the land is sold to developers?
Good questions
Answer: quite possibly not
Although measures are being taken to tackle this now. I hope they work
Very interesting data. Thanks for highlighting it.
It’s curious to see that a huge portion of Bracknell town centre (my local area) – more or less the exact portion currently undergoing redevelopment work to create a shiny new retail utopia of chain stores and restaurants called ‘The Lexicon’ – has been owned since late 2011 by a company based in Jersey (‘Bracknell General Partner Limited’). They also own the land containing the main bus station (and land either side) at the other end of the town centre.
What is doubly curious is that the group overseeing the redevelopment (‘Bracknell Regeneration Limited Partnership’) are also based in Jersey at the same address, and were registered as an entity on the JFSC Companies Registry exactly one month after BGPL in early 2003.
Do you know if it’s possible to find out who owns entities like these? I’m guessing it might be the same people in these two cases, but it would be good to confirm that assumption. The JFSC Companies Registry lists various documents for both BGPL and BRLP at £4 a time, but that’s quite a lot of money for an individual like me to fork out just to see exactly where names might be listed (if they are at all).
The other aspect is trying to work out the tax implications of this particular arrangement (though rent being paid to a company based in Jersey seems clear enough). If you or any of your followers here have pointers to books or articles that could help me understand how these things work, that’d be appreciated.
There is no way you can prove the ownership of a Jersey entity
That is why it is still a secrecy jurisdiction
I define secrecy jurisdictions as places that intentionally create regulation for the primary benefit and use of those not resident in their geographical domain with that regulation being designed to undermine the legislation or regulation of another jurisdiction and with the secrecy jurisdictions also creating a deliberate, legally backed veil of secrecy that ensures that those from outside the jurisdiction making use of its regulation cannot be identified to be doing so.
Based on a bit of Google-ing, the Bracknell Regeneration Limited Partnership appears to be a 50:50 joint venture between Schroders and Legal & General.
(For the benefit of any readers who are not aware, a limited partnership is not a company – it is a partnership where some of the investors have limited liability. Typically a limited partnership will have one general partner and one or more limited partners. The general partner acts a little like a custodian or investment manager, holding the assets for the limited partners; the general partner in this case is a limited company, and no doubt it paid for the services it performs. The limited partners are the investors who put up the capital and get an investment return, but are not involved in the running of the partnership’s business).
A limited partnership is transparent for tax purposes, so the rent will be taxed in the hands of the partners who are entitled to it. The UK’s non-resident landlord scheme ensure that at least UK income tax is paid on the rental income (after deduction of costs, including finance, of course).
In this case, I expect the partnership was set up in Jersey to avoid creating a permanent establishment in the UK, so any profits from redeveloping the land would not be subject to UK income tax or corporation tax directly. That sort of planning was curtailed by the diverted profits tax, and will be effectively stopped by this year’s Finance Bill.
There may be also stamp duty reasons
Thanks Andrew for your expertise and insight. All very useful. I have a lot still to learn about these things…
Thank you for your reply – I won’t waste money buying any documents from the Jersey Companies Register then! Time to re-read Shaxson’s Treasure Islands and consider some FOI requests to the council.
ps I’ve also just noticed how much detailed info there is on the tax justice network site, esp in their Financial Secrecy Index. Think I’ll start there! Thanks again.
That’s an unreal map! In my area (Devizes) the only two service stations (Roundway and Northgate) are both registered in Jersey! Owned by the same person, prices are always the same (and high, relative to the local area/supermarket prices) but no collusion there, of course not!
Worth looking on the PE map at pubs in so-called ‘high-value’ residential areas. Many to be found all across North London, for example. The signs are that schemes are being pushed by Offshore Advisors to tax conscious investors to buy pub freeholds through offshore companies with every intention of conversion to residential. It has driven the ghastly game of pub closure by stealth (good pubs – Black Cap, Old White Bear, Magdala, poss Richard Steele, etc) while communities have then been forced to run along behind trying to use the fragile “Asset of Community Value” mechanism to bring them back from the brink.