Beneficial interest meaning

Individuals or entities that may be entered onto a PSC register: registrable individuals holding significant control registrable relevant legal entities subject to their own disclosure requirements: all UK companies limited by shares or by guarantee (including community interest companies (CICs)) and dormant companies UK unlimited companies UK limited liability partnerships (LLPs) unregistered companies subject to the Unregistered Companies Regulations 2009 (including some Royal Chartered bodies, such as City of London Livery Companies, Guilds and other societies and professional bodies) UK Societas...

This Procedural Guide explains how to pursue an application under section 14 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA 1996) by a trustee of land, or by a beneficiary with an interest in property held on a trust of land. It provides direction on: the threshold for bringing an application and the pre-action protocol Part 36 offers under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR), SI 1998/3132 evidential needs and the range of orders the court may make An application under TOLATA 1996, s 14 can be brought by a trustee of land or a beneficiary with an interest in property subject to a trust of land. In addition, any other person with an interest in that property, for example a mortgage company, has standing to commence a claim. The court enjoys a wide discretion to make directions about the exercise of trustees’ functions, or concerning the character and scope of beneficiaries’ interests, which may include ordering a...

This note provides a checklist of the principal questions to ask, and the actions to take, to meet the requirements of Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) covering people with significant control (the PSC regime). It focuses on keeping a register of PSCs and other registrable relevant legal entities (RLEs) (the PSC register)... The requirement to report PSC information The PSC regime covers UK incorporated companies limited by shares or guarantee (including community interest companies), limited liability partnerships (LLPs), unlimited companies, unregistered companies and UK Societas. Owing to the Scottish Partnerships (Register of People with Significant Control) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/694, it also applies to eligible Scottish partnerships (Scottish limited partnerships and Scottish qualifying general partnerships). These bodies must update their own registers within 14 days and amend the central record at Companies House within a further 14 days; eligible Scottish partnerships are not required to keep a PSC register but must deliver PSC details to Companies House within 14 days. For more detail, see...

Except where an exemption or relief is available, payments of yearly interest that have a UK source (including amounts that tax legislation treats as payments of yearly interest) must be made under deduction, with the payer required to account to HMRC for an amount in respect of UK income tax at the basic rate (20%) or, from 6 April 2027, at the savings basic rate (22%). Although often called a withholding tax, it is in fact simply a means, in practice, of collecting UK income tax. While the tax is imposed on the interest received by the non-UK beneficial owner, it is recovered from the UK-based payer of the interest. For further detail, see Practice Notes: UK withholding tax on yearly interest and Exemptions and reliefs from UK withholding tax on yearly interest. This Flowchart assists in determining whether the quoted eurobond exemption applies to a payment of interest, so that the payer need not withhold UK income tax from that payment in question. For more information on the quoted...

Original news Banwaitt v Dewji and another [2015] EWHC 3441 (Ch) What issues did this case raise? This decision will interest practitioners advising judgment creditors with a charging order against a debtor’s share in jointly owned property, and anyone dealing with security over beneficial interests in land more generally. The central issue was whether a married couple, as co-owners, could have a charging order removed from the title by the wife buying the husband’s stake. The claimant had secured a substantial judgment which the debtor failed to satisfy. A charging order was then obtained over the debtor’s beneficial interest in the family home. Thereafter, the debtor and his wife transferred the property into her sole name for a modest sum. She argued the order no longer bound the title—maintaining it had been ‘overreached’ under sections 2 and 27 of the Law of Property Act 1925. The debtor tendered that sum to the claimant. However, the debtor had not obtained the claimant’s agreement in advance to the disposition and, in...

A v N (R intervening) [2025] EWFC 371 (B) What was the background? The applicant wife (W) and the respondent husband (H) wed in March 1996 after living together for two years, amounting to a near three-decade marriage when the cohabitation is counted. The intervenor was W’s mother (R). The parties had five children; only the youngest, T, now aged 15, remains under 18, although several of the older children have continued to reside in the family property. The former matrimonial home (FMH) was acquired on 13 February 2012 in H and W’s joint names. It was accepted by both that the purchase would not have been possible without funds from R, and that from the outset the plan was for R to share the FMH with them. The completion statement recorded a £130,000 contribution from R towards the £881,161 price, described as a ‘mother gifted deposit’. The chosen property was specifically selected so that semi-independent accommodation could be constructed for R’s eventual occupation, identified in the judgment as...

DDR v BDR [2024] EWFC 278 What are the practical implications of this case? As well as offering a highly accessible distillation and application of the principles governing disputes over property between a sole legal proprietor and a non-legal claimant asserting a beneficial interest, this judgment underlines the truly basic distinction between the court’s declaratory function in property matters and its redistributive powers under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973). It also offers a template for the clear, targeted presentation of financial remedy applications. Where questions arise about the scope of a party’s bankruptcy estate, the approach must be equally disciplined. Its structured reasoning demonstrates how to keep such issues sharply defined and tightly analysed throughout the conduct of the application, from start to finish. The judge’s careful, methodical analysis should not mask the 'somewhat unfocused and unproductive' progression of the litigation for a substantial period, a consequence in large measure of both parties acting in person for most of the case. Happily, at a comparatively late juncture,...

Firms sometimes extend low-interest (or interest-free) borrowing to directors or staff as part of a remuneration package, or on particular occasions, to assist the individual with major financial outlays. As with any other form of employment reward, where a loan is made by a third party rather than by the employer, the disguised remuneration rules in Part 7A of Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA 2003) must be considered first, since those provisions take precedence over most mechanisms for charging employment income to tax (including the benefits code). For further information, see: Disguised remuneration and EBTs—overview and, also, regarding the loan charge within the disguised remuneration rules, refer to Practice Note: Disguised remuneration—history of the loan charge. If no third party is involved (eg where the employer itself advances the loan), or an exemption from the disguised remuneration regime applies, the provisions in the benefits code for employment-related loans outlined below may instead govern the position for the particular loan in question...

A well-maintained register of people with significant control (PSC) should make publicly available who ultimately owns and controls companies and other entities. The PSC framework applies to UK-incorporated companies limited by shares or by guarantee (including unlimited companies, unregistered companies, community interest companies and dormant companies), limited liability partnerships (LLPs), and eligible Scottish partnerships, namely Scottish limited partnerships and Scottish qualifying general partnerships (ESPs). For clarity, this guide chiefly refers to companies. For information on the regime’s scope, including how a company might most effectively obtain relevant beneficial ownership details, see Practice Note: PSC register—the people with significant control regime. Corporate transparency reform—changes to the PSC regime The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023) received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023 and is being introduced in phases across multiple commencement dates. Many provisions will only commence once detailed secondary legislation and guidance are in place, while others require the rollout of new technical processes and tools before they can operate. ...

Who may be beneficiaries Any individual who would be capable of holding property if of full age and sound mind can be a beneficiary under a trust, even where they are not presently of full age or sound mind. Identifying the beneficiaries To establish a valid trust, the three certainties must be satisfied. The three certainties certainty of intention certainty of subject-matter certainty of objects Charitable trusts are not required to meet certainty of objects provided there is a general charitable intention. Certainty of objects—named beneficiaries Every trust deed must set out who the beneficiaries are. In a straightforward life interest trust, there are usually few beneficiaries and they may be identified in the clause that specifies the beneficial interests. For example: ‘The Trustees shall distribute the income of the Trust Fund to [X] for their lifetime and, on their death, shall transfer the capital to [Y].’ Beneficiaries may alternatively be defined in the definitions clause...

This formal letter serves hereby to notify the bankrupt and any additional co-owner (or occupier) of the relevant property in question that the trustee in bankruptcy (the trustee) intends to realise their beneficial interest in that property. It should generally be sent only once the trustee has resolved to formally issue a court application for possession and sale, or adapted suitably if they do not propose to apply to the court at this stage. Individual letters must be addressed and posted separately to all co-owners/occupiers, ensuring the trustee can be fully confident each has been clearly notified of the position. The precedent is written in neutral terms so as to allow easy adaptation and appropriate modification where required, and is framed on the basis that it is to be sent by the trustee’s solicitor...

[ Insert date ] Dear [ insert name of addressee ] Register of People with Significant Control—Withdrawal of Restrictions Notice Interests in [ Company ] [ shares OR rights ] We write to you under paragraph 11 of Schedule 1B to the Companies Act 2006 (the Act) to notify you that the restrictions notice dated [ Date ], issued pursuant to paragraphs (1)(3) and (1)(4) of Schedule 1B to the Act in relation to your relevant interest in the shares of [ Company ], is revoked with effect from the date of this notice. [ Insert the reason the restrictions have been withdrawn. ] Full information on your obligations under this Part of the Act, together with the penalties for non-compliance, can be found on the Gov.UK website. Yours [ sincerely OR faithfully ],[ Name ][ Director OR Secretary ]...

THIS DEED This deed is dated [ date ] Parties [ Name of surviving joint tenant of property co-owned with deceased ] of [ address ] (the Surviving Joint Tenant) [ Names of new beneficiaries of deceased’s beneficial interest in the property ] of [ addresses ] (the New Beneficiaries) [ Names of Executors ] of [ addresses ] (the Executors) BACKGROUND [ Name of deceased ] (the Deceased) passed away on [ date of death ], leaving a final Will dated [ date of last Will ] (the Will). [ Probate of the Will was issued by the [ Principal OR [ name ] District Probate ] Registry of the Family Division of the High Court to the Executors on [ date of grant ]...

Section 283 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986) In general terms, section 283 states that every asset belonging to the bankrupt, or in which the bankrupt held an interest on the date the bankruptcy order was made, forms the bankruptcy estate. Under IA 1986, s 306, that estate vests in the trustee in bankruptcy (trustee) immediately and automatically on appointment, and stays vested until the trustee deals with it, typically by sale—see Practice Note: What assets vest in the trustee in bankruptcy and what steps does the official receiver or trustee in bankruptcy need to take? Where the estate includes land or a beneficial interest in land, the trustee should ensure that the correct entries are or become noted against the title, whether the title is registered or unregistered. Depending on whether the property is owned solely or jointly, certain entries may (or should) be made automatically; if they are not, the trustee can apply to the Land Registry. For more detail, see Practice Note: Protecting a...

It is commonplace in financial remedy proceedings for a third party to be added to the case, either to advance a claim to a beneficial interest in a property or other asset, or to permit making of an order for sale in relation to that property. In TL v ML, Mostyn J articulated the procedural principles to be applied to such matters...

Acquisition or appropriation of remainderman's interest Under a life interest trust, the life tenant is entitled to live in the property or take the income it produces. The scenario assumes the life tenant might acquire the remainderman’s interest in the property, thereby converting their position into an absolute interest. In such a case, the remainderman would receive cash in exchange for their reversionary interest. Where the Will trust does not confer an express power on trustees to reallocate or modify beneficial interests, the life tenant and the remainderman may agree a variation pursuant to the rule in Saunders v Vautier, so long as they are both of full age and have capacity. This route is unavailable if any minors or unborn persons have, or may have, an interest under the trust. If there are potential beneficiaries of that kind, an application can be made to the court to approve the arrangement under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958. For further guidance, see: Termination of trusts—overview...