Offence provisions

During the transitional period beginning on 1 April 2022 and ending on 1 April 2024 the offence provisions do not have effect.

This article will outline the offence provisions contained in the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCI) regulations for failure to comply with the duties in the register.

It will be a criminal offence not to comply with the duties, punishable by a fine.

Offences related to duties

A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with the following duties commits an offence:

• The duty on a recorded person to provide the keeper with the recorded person and associate's required information, as stated in regulation 10(8)
  • A recorded person has a reasonable excuse in respect of a particular associate if the recorded person, having taken reasonable steps to do so, is unable to establish that they are an associate to obtain, or verify the accuracy of the required details of the associate and has informed the Keeper of this.
• The duty on a recorded person to update the register when an event happens which requires a change to the information which is held on the register, as stated in regulation 12(4)
  • A recorded person has a reasonable excuse in respect of a particular associate if the recorded person, having taken reasonable steps to do so, is unable to verify the accuracy of the information and has informed the keeper of this.
• The duty on a recorded person to notify the associate about the registration in RCI within 7 days of the submission, as stated in regulation 13(5)
• The duty on an associate to inform the recorded person that they are an associate if the recorded person has not contacted them within 67 days of becoming an associate, as stated in regulations 13(5) and 14(3)
• The duty on an associate to provide information upon request, as stated in regulation 15(7)
• The duty on an associate to revoke a security declaration when it is no longer valid or they cease to have the supporting evidence, as stated in regulation 17(5)

Other offences

It is also an offence for a person to make a materially false or misleading statement in the information or for intentionally failing to disclose information that should be provided, as stated in regulation 20.

There is a defence if a person took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence, as stated in regulation 21.

Find out more

More information on the RCI offence provisions can be found in the RCI regulations