Overseas entities who want to buy, sell, transfer, or lease UK property and Land must register with Companies House. Companies House will then add your overseas entity details to the Register of Overseas Entities. Your registration must be carried out by a UK-regulated agent. Your chosen agent must have an agent assurance code issued by Companies House.
Companies House requires your agent must provide an agent assurance code to authenticate the verification statement when registering your overseas entity.
Generally, your UK-regulated agent would have been warned not to share their code with anyone.
Who must get an agent assurance code?
Your UK-regulated agents that are completing the verification checks must be based in the UK and supervised under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017. They can be individuals or corporate entities, such as:
- Credit institutions.
- Financial institutions.
- Auditors, insolvency practitioners, accountants, and tax advisers.
- Legal professionals like solicitors and conveyancers.
- Trust or company service providers.
- Estate agents and letting agents.
Take note that your agent that carries out the verification checks must not be related to, or a close associate of, the individual.
How to get the code
For this purpose, you must complete the AG01 form and then email it to agentcode@companieshouse.gov.uk.
Put ‘Agent assurance code’ in the subject line. This will help Companies House to process your request more quickly.
