What the Register Reveals

Since the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) launched in August 2022, Doorda has used its data to create a Commercial Property Register linking overseas entities to more than 8,000 properties. But how much do we really know about the overseas entities commercial property landscape? Our analysis of the our Register of Overseas Entities Commercial Property — covering properties where the owner’s company number carries an OE (Overseas Entity), FC (Foreign Company), BR (Branch), or OS (Overseas) prefix — reveals the full picture.

Let’s dive into the data.

The Numbers at a Glance

Metric	Value
Unique companies on the Register	2,567
Commercial properties owned	8,094
Unique addresses held	8,083
Total estimated rental value	£941 million
Average annual rent per property	£116,281

Breakdown by Entity Type

Entity Type	Unique Companies	Properties	Avg Rent	Avg Size (m²)
Overseas Entity (OE)	2,449	7,652	£115,850	850 m²
Foreign Company (FC)	118	442	£123,738	1,072 m²

Note: BR (Branch) and OS (Overseas) prefixes also appear but are less common among overseas entities owning commercial property.

Geographic Spread

Unsurprisingly London dominates, but overseas entities commercial property holdings stretch nationwide:

Region	Properties	Unique Owners
Inner London	1,740	772
Outer London	884	389
West Yorkshire	552	88
Greater Manchester	433	122
Kent	385	84
West Midlands	257	99
Surrey	207	96
Hampshire	184	68

By country: England (7,594 records), Scotland (310), Wales (180).

What Types of Commercial Property Do They Hold?

Property Type	Properties	Avg Rent
Shops & Premises	1,927	£48,956
Offices & Premises	1,375	£185,611
Warehouses & Premises	734	£252,901
Workshops & Premises	388	£39,001
Self Storage	328	£347
Car Parks	215	£4,296
Pubs	197	£67,576
Restaurants	197	£94,935
Hotels	162	£597,787
Factories	130	£227,891

Why the Register of Overseas Entities Matters for Commercial Property

The Register of Overseas Entities was introduced under the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 to tackle money laundering and hidden ownership of UK property. For commercial property, its impact is significant:

Mandatory Registration

Any overseas entity that owns a “qualifying estate” (freehold or leasehold over 7 years) in UK land must register with Companies House and disclose its beneficial owners. This covers the vast majority of commercial property held by foreign entities.

OE ID Number

Once registered, each entity receives an Overseas Entity ID number (OE-prefix), which is now required for any property transaction — buying, selling, leasing, or charging.

Annual Updates

Registered entities must file an annual update statement confirming their beneficial ownership information remains current, or face penalties.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Failure to register can result in:

• Restrictions on selling, leasing, or charging the property
• Daily fines
• Criminal prosecution

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Who Are the Major Entities on the Register?

The largest overseas entities holding commercial property include trust companies, investment vehicles, and holding companies:

Owner	Entity Type	Properties
Vistra Trust Company (Jersey) Ltd	OE	336
Green Point Properties Ltd	OE	198
Indurent Propco A2 Ltd	OE	112
Snowfall Services Corp.	OE	102
Motherwell Propco B.V.	FC	70

Interestingly, 53.5% of properties (4,329 records) are owner-occupied, meaning the overseas entity both owns and occupies the property — the remaining 46.5% are tenanted.

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Doorda Has the Complete Picture — No Separate Searches Needed

Instead of jumping between Companies House, HM Land Registry, and multiple government portals, Doorda has all the data in one place, already linked to actual addresses.

Our Commercial Real Estate (CRE01) dataset connects every overseas entity directly to its physical UK addresses — not just company numbers or title numbers, but the actual streets, postcodes, and properties they own. So when you need to:

• Look up which commercial properties a specific overseas entity owns
• Check all overseas entities associated with a particular address
• Identify address concentration risks (e.g., 50+ companies registered at one location)
• Cross-reference occupant names, rental values, and business rates
• Find disqualified directors linked to an address

…you can do it all instantly, without stitching together data from three different government registers.

What our data includes, per address:

Data Point	Available
Full address & postcode	✅
UPRN / UDPRN (unique property identifiers)	✅
Owner name & company number (OE / FC / BR)	✅
Property type & sub-category	✅
Rental value & business rates	✅
Size (m²) & floor levels	✅
Occupant details & occupation date	✅
Companies House compliance flags	✅
Disqualified director counts	✅
FSA hygiene score & gambling licenses	✅
Latitude / longitude coordinates	✅

In short: The Register of Overseas Entities tells you who owns what by company number. Doorda tells you who owns what by actual address — and that’s the difference between a compliance check and a full risk picture.

Whether you’re investigating a single property or running a portfolio-wide screen across 8,094 commercial properties held by 2,567 overseas entities, Doorda has the data ready to query — no portal-hopping required.

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Compliance Risks for Overseas Entities Holding Commercial Property

Beneficial Ownership Gaps

Despite the Register of Overseas Entities, transparency remains a challenge. Research has shown that 38% of overseas entities on the register have missing or incomplete beneficial ownership information. For compliance teams, this means the register is a starting point, not a final answer.

Red flag: Properties held by overseas entities have an average of 32 companies registered and 41 appointments at each address — suggesting many serve as registered offices for multiple entities, increasing complexity.

Sanctions Exposure

With geopolitical tensions rising, overseas entities commercial property carries elevated sanctions risk. A property linked to a sanctioned individual can lead to freezing orders and legal complications.

Disqualified Directors

Our data shows 478 addresses owned by overseas entities have had at least one disqualified director associated with them — a significant red flag for compliance teams.

Verification Challenges

Verifying an overseas entity requires:

• Checking the Register of Overseas Entities at Companies House
• Confirming foreign company registration in the home jurisdiction
• Obtaining certified translations of constitutional documents
• Navigating different corporate legal frameworks

Tax Compliance

Overseas entities must navigate:

• Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) for high-value properties
• Non-resident landlord tax rules
• Capital Gains Tax on disposals
• Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) surcharges

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The Takeaway for Compliance Professionals

The Register of Overseas Entities was a landmark step in bringing transparency to foreign-owned UK property. But with 2,567 unique overseas entities holding £941 million in commercial property assets, compliance teams should go further:

• Verify ROE registration for all OE-prefixed entities
• Screen beneficial owners against sanctions and PEP lists
• Monitor address concentration — Doorda’s address-linked data makes this instant
• Flag disqualified director associations
• Track occupancy vs. tenancy — non-owner-occupied properties may present higher tenant protection risks
• Establish escalation procedures when an overseas entity changes ownership or structure

The Register of Overseas Entities commercial property dataset is a powerful tool — but only when combined with deeper due diligence. And with Doorda, that deeper due diligence is already built in, address by address.

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Data sourced from the Doorda Commercial Property database as of June 2026. Contains 8,094 property records associated with OE, FC, BR, and OS registered owner numbers. All statistics based on overseas entities identified by company number prefixes.