The Cyprus Registrar of Companies (RoC) has made an announcement to the industry regarding the new UK Register of Overseas Entities and the new requirement to declare ultimate beneficial ownership and managing officers information on overseas entities that own land or property in the UK, which has been in force since 1 August 2022. Under UK law the declaration is mandatory and must be made by 31 January 2023.

The RoC has also emphasised that, in case of non-declaration of the foreign legal entities in the British Register of Overseas Entities within the deadline, penalties will be imposed including: a fine of up to £2,500 per day; a prison sentence of up to five years; and restrictions on the purchase, sale, transfer, or lease of the land or property of non-compliant legal entities in the UK.

The RoC highlights that Cyprus companies that own or possess UK land or real estate will be impacted this development should take all appropriate action.

The official announcement (only in Greek) can be found here.

Our previous post on the UK overseas entities register is here.