What with all the recent revelations to come out of the Panamanian Mossack Fonseca data leak, and the plight of the troubled British steel industry, there is currently a lot of attention being focused on exactly how much of GB PLC is owned and registered abroad.
Those cunning and clever people at Private Eye (pick up a copy at all good newsagents) have created a searchable map of properties in England and Wales owned by offshore companies. Using Land Registry data released under Freedom of Information laws, and then linking around 100,000 land title register entries to specific addresses, the Eye has mapped all leasehold and freehold interests acquired by offshore companies between 1999 and 2014.
There is an 8MB database available, but the real joy comes from the searchable map… while London is awash with foreign registrations, Oxford escapes only lightly. I was interested to discover that of the seven flats in the converted pub I live in, two are owned by the Jersey based Eurocomm Holdings. They also seem to hold a number of other houses and flats in Oxford and beyond! Have a look a see who owns what near you using this link.
Tim Myatt 