It’s not a secret that foreign capital plays a significant role in the pricing of London property. National Crime Agency alarmed by the number of luxury properties which are owned by companies located in offshore zones –deals worth billions of pounds.
£150 million of the real estate tax was received by the British Treasury during the last three months from companies, trust and investment funds, but not private buyers. It bothers the Agency, because most of these companies are located in offshore zones and most likely engaged in money laundering through the purchase of luxury properties in London. "If real estate agents have doubts about the "purity" of money in the transaction, they must report it, otherwise they could face criminal liability", - said the head of the Agency Donald Toon.
In a recent speech in Singapore, Prime Minister of Great Britain David Cameron has promised to strengthen the fight against corruption and unreliable foreigners who buy property in London on "dirty money" and thereby artificially inflate the already high housing prices in the capital.
Prime Minister promises to introduce from autumn a single public land register of foreign companies with mandatory data about the property in their possession.
Also is considered the possibility of expansion of open data in the register – in particular, the possibility of disclosure of information about the true owners of UK companies.
Cameron says: " I want Britain to be the most open country in the world for investment. But I want to ensure that all this money is clean money. There is no place for dirty money in Britain. Indeed, there should be no place for dirty money anywhere".
Market experts believe that only radical measures will stop the growth of real estate prices, which is forcing residents of the capital to seek property away from the center.
Interesting numbers
According to Transparency International (non-governmental international organization for the fight against corruption and the study of the level of corruption worldwide):
• The average price of a property in the UK, involved in criminal investigation, is £1.5 million.
• 36 342 London houses and apartments, covering 2.25 square miles, are owned by offshore companies. 38% are located in the British Virgin Islands, 16% in Jersey, 9.5% in Maine, and 9% in Guernsey.
• Almost every tenth property in Westminster (9,3%), 7.3% in Kensington and Chelsea, and 4.5% in the city of London belongs to companies registered in offshore zones.
• In 2011 British Virgin Islands registered companies acquired UK property on the sum of £3.8 billion.
• Offshore companies bought the property in England and Wales for the sum of £ 120 billion.
• In 2009, an unknown entrepreneur acquired a network of offshore companies which, in turn, has invested £ 147 million in the purchase of luxury homes in the most popular areas of London.
According to the materials of Dailymail.co.uk and Theguardian.com
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