Chinese, other foreign investors face new property clarity rules

A national flag hangs across a street of houses in London, the UK, June 3, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

The Chinese companies and other foreign investors which hold or want to buy properties in UK must state who really owns them, according to the press office of Prime Minister David Cameron.

Cameron will be announcing a set of new global commitments at today's anti-corruption summit, to which China has sent a delegation. And it is expected that the Chinese delegation will be expressing the country's determination to continue its iron-fisted efforts in uprooting corruption.

The UK has attracted a growing number of Chinese companies and individual investors who have been buying properties in recent years while the bilateral economic and trade relations have deepened.

Cameron will also announce that the UK will host the first ever International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre in London to strengthen cross-border investigations.

According to the press office, any foreign company that wants to buy UK property or bid for central government contracts here will have to join a new public register of beneficial ownership information before they can do so. This will be the first register of its kind anywhere in the world.

Crucially, it will include companies who already own property in the UK, not just those wishing to buy. Foreign companies own around 100,000 properties in England and Wales. Over 44,000 of these are in London.

The new register for foreign companies will mean corrupt individuals and countries will no longer be able to move, launder and hide illicit funds through London's property market, and will not benefit from public funds.

France, the Netherlands, Nigeria and Afghanistan will follow the UK's lead and commit to launch their own public registers of true company ownership, while Australia, New Zealand, Jordan, Indonesia, Ireland and Georgia will agree to take the initial steps towards making similar arrangements.

The UK will launch its own fully public register next month – the first G20 country to do so.

His press office reported that Cameron will say at the summit that a global problem needs a truly global solution. It needs an unprecedented, courageous commitment from world leaders to stand united, to speak into the silence, and to demand change.

"That is why I am hosting this summit. Today is just the start of a more co-ordinated, ambitious global effort to defeat corruption," the press office quoted Cameron as saying.

To contact the reporter: fujing@chinadaily.com.cn