There has been much publicity surrounding the government's Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill – legislation which, if enacted, the government hopes will help reverse geographical disparities between different parts of the UK.

One of the less publicised elements of the Bill is Part 9. This sets out a framework for creating powers to require disclosure of certain relevant information relating to the ownership and control of land in England and Wales, including transactional information. As drafted, the provisions could require the disclosure of information relating to events prior to the enactment of the Bill.

What will need to be disclosed?

Under Part 9, there are two broad categories of information that may need to be disclosed (required information):

Information about ownership and control of land 

This includes any information that would be useful to identify persons who (from time to time):

• own relevant interests in land;
• have relevant rights concerning land; or
• have the ability to influence (directly or indirectly) the owner of a relevant interest in land, or a person with a relevant right concerning land, in the exercise or that ownership or right,

together with information that would be useful to ascertain the nature, extent or duration of that ownership, those rights or that ability.

Parties may have "control or influence" by reason of interests or rights in or under a company, partnership, trust or similar legal structure or arrangement. "Relevant interests" and "relevant rights" are widely defined and are not restricted to proprietary interests.

Transactional information

This would be information relating to instruments, contracts or other arrangements:

• creating, altering, extinguishing, evidencing or transferring relevant interests in land; or
• conferring, amending, assigning, terminating or otherwise modifying relevant rights concerning land.

The required information could include:

• details of the parties to a transaction;
• details of the persons on whose behalf or for whose benefit the parties to the transaction are or were acting;
• details of the terms of the transaction;
• details of persons providing professional services in relation to a transaction;
• details of source of funds or other consideration given in connection with the transaction; and
• copies of documents evidencing the transaction.

To whom must the required information be provided?

This is to be specified in regulations but must be either the Chief Land Registrar or another person exercising public functions on behalf of the Crown.

Who is required to provide required information?

This is to be specified in regulations.

Will the provisions have retrospective effect?

Yes. Section 180(4) of the Bill makes it clear that the relevant information may relate to things done before the coming into force of the relevant provisions.

Will the relevant information be made public?

This is to be set out in regulations which are to provide for the:

• retention of the information provided;
• sharing of such information with persons exercising functions of a public nature; and
• publication of such information.

It is unclear at this stage how disclosure of relevant information (including transactional information) will be balanced against issues such as confidentiality, particularly with regard to potentially sensitive contractual terms.

Why is such information being collected?

The government anticipates collecting information on a range of transaction types for a range of purposes, for example: 

• to meet the 2017 housing white paper land transparency commitment by collecting and publishing data on contractual arrangements used by developers to control land, such as rights of pre-emption, options and conditional contracts;

• to identify attempts to evade sanctions on the new disclosure requirements placed on companies owning UK land and property contained in the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022; and
• for wider national and macroeconomic purposes.

How will such measures be enforced?

Section 182 of the Bill sets out how the requirements to provide relevant information may be enforced. It allows for regulations to create criminal offences punishable by fine and/or imprisonment for:

• failure to comply with an information requirement; or
• providing false or misleading information.

Regulations may also make provision preventing registration at the Land Registry of relevant interests and rights in land in relation to which a relevant disclosure requirement has not been complied with.

Comment

If implemented this will be another significant layer of disclosure around land ownership and control in England and Wales, supplementing the information currently held (or to be held) in the following public registries:

• the register of land ownership maintained by the Land Registry;
• the persons with significant control register (PSC) at Companies House which is applicable to UK companies; and
• the Register of Overseas Entities to be created by Companies House to record details of the beneficial ownership of overseas entities that own land in the UK.

The ultimate goal is to ensure transparency around land ownership and control in England and Wales. Those dealing with, or controlling, land in England and Wales will therefore want to take note of these provisions, especially given the potential for retrospective application.