Torsten Bell

The Bona Vacantia Division (“the Division”) of the Government Legal Department acts on behalf of the Treasury Solicitor (the Crown’s Nominee for bona vacantia).

The Division is not automatically informed of the assets of a company on dissolution and the Division only becomes aware of vesting with a referral from an interested party.

The Division is currently dealing with 372 registered freehold titles which appear to have vested as bona vacantia following dissolution via striking off by the Registrar of Companies or formal liquidation (this is the figure as of 15 November 2024, compared to the figure of 380 as of 17 October 2024). As regards leasehold titles, the Division is currently dealing with 66 registered leasehold titles.

At any one time the Division will also be dealing with a number of cases where the land is either unregistered or where the nature of the interest in the land referred to the Division requires clarification. The Division is currently dealing with 76 such cases.

The Bona Vacantia Division (“the Division”) of the Government Legal Department acts on behalf of the Treasury Solicitor (the Crown’s Nominee for bona vacantia).

The Division is currently dealing with 380 freehold titles which appear to have vested as bona vacantia following dissolution via striking off by the Registrar of Companies or formal liquidation.

Freehold titles from companies dissolved following liquidation are less likely to vest as bona vacantia as they are normally disposed of prior to dissolution by the Insolvency Practitioner.

There have been some changes to the administrative instructions followed by the department’s Work Coaches around recording occupation at the Initial Work Seach Interview. This has led to the observed change in the levels of unknown occupations in the Jobseekers Allowance occupation data since June.

Income and gains in relation to cryptoassets are currently reported in the same sections with other incomes and gains on the Self-Assessment return pages, and therefore those amounts are not separately identifiable from the data collected via Self-Assessment.

From the tax year ending 2025, changes will be introduced to the Capital Gains pages of the Self-Assessment forms requiring amounts in respect of cryptoassets to be identified separately.

The Joint Administrators of East West Insurance Company (EWIC) published a report in 2021 that confirmed that all of EWIC’s building guarantee and warranty policies originated with Zurich Insurance. As disclosed previously, the best estimate for the costs to resolve building remediation work covered by EWIC policies is approximately £335m.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) provides protections to the eligible customers of failed insurers regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), subject to the conditions, limits and requirements set out in PRA rules.

In the context of high-rise building remediation work, East West Insurance Company Limited (EWIC) is the sole insurer default where FSCS has stepped in, in line with its remit. The best estimate for the costs to resolve building remediation work covered by EWIC policies is approximately £335m. However, it is too early to estimate the costs that will fall specifically to the FSCS in this case, as some costs may be met by other parties.

The FSCS does not hold information on the costs to each insurance company that originally wrote the building insurance to cover this type of risk, as insurers in the live market have not been declared in default.

HM Land Registry does not hold data on the number of registered freehold titles where ownership has passed to the Crown following the dissolution of a company, where the Bona Vacantia Division has not yet been notified.

Companies House does not hold the requested information. Companies are required to provide to the Registrar of Companies the information set out in the Companies Act 2006. This does not include information about land titles held as assets by companies.

The Government is committed to ensuring that historic, life-critical fire safety defects in affected buildings are addressed. Our remediation programmes have processes in place to ensure that work is done to the appropriate standard and is remedied if not.

While the specific controls and assurances of remediation programmes differ, both developers and applicants to government remediation funds must provide a Fire Risk Appraisal of the External Walls (FRAEW), which will assess risks and recommend remedial works to address these risks where necessary. These are carried out by independent Fire Risk Assessors and robust processes are in place to assess the FRAEWs submitted.

All remedial works must also obtain Building Control approval which provides independent assurance that the works comply with Building Regulations.