International Investors & Family Offices: Your London Office

Many of our clients are family offices headquartered overseas-we have particular depth with families in Cyprus, Greece, and Central and Eastern Europe-for whom we serve as Your London Office: a single, accountable point of contact for UK business. That typically includes:

• Management reporting and consolidation: consolidated reporting across the family’s UK entities and investments;
• Financial controller duties: banking liaison and payment runs, bookkeeping oversight, cash flow monitoring and budget-versus-actual reporting for UK entities;
• Coordination of the UK adviser bench: we brief and manage the family’s UK lawyers, bankers, insurance and mortgage brokers and property consultants, drawing on a close network built over decades;
• UK tax compliance for the family: personal and corporate returns, the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme, ATED and SDLT filings, and UK reporting for trustees;
• Statutory and company secretarial matters: maintaining UK companies’ registers, filings and good standing;
• Estate and succession planning for the UK footprint: advice under the residence-based inheritance tax rules that apply from April 2025, including trusts, Family Investment Companies and pre-arrival planning for family members relocating to the UK. See Succession Planning & IHT and advice for New UK Residents.

Property remains the anchor UK asset for most international families, and it is where tax and commercial questions intertwine most tightly. We advise across the full cycle:

• Appraising property deals and returns: modelling acquisitions, gearing and exit scenarios so every decision is made on well-founded numbers;
• Tax-efficient ownership structures: personal, corporate, SPV, trust or fund; onshore or offshore; weighing income tax, corporation tax, CGT, SDLT, ATED and inheritance tax together rather than in isolation, alongside financing and commercial considerations;
• Transaction taxes: SDLT, VAT and the Transfer of a Going Concern rules on commercial acquisitions, and ATED on enveloped dwellings;
• Ongoing compliance: rental accounts, corporation tax or income tax returns, non-resident CGT reporting on disposals, and annual ATED returns.

The following are anonymised, illustrative engagements.

1. Acquiring a UK portfolio. For a family office acquiring UK residential and commercial property, we assisted end to end: sourcing introductions through our network, due diligence on target SPVs and properties, arranging loan finance, advising on taxation and the optimal acquisition structure, inheritance tax planning for the UK estate including trust matters, and ongoing budgeting and forecasting.
2. Appraising a commercial investment. For an international investor weighing a UK commercial property purchase, we appraised returns under loan and equity financing scenarios, advised on VAT and Transfer of a Going Concern treatment, SDLT and ATED exposure, and recommended the ownership structure-flagging the tax complications to avoid before contracts were exchanged.
3. Restructuring legacy holding structures. For a family holding UK property through structures set up under earlier tax regimes, we reviewed the position following successive UK reforms, advised on onshoring versus retaining offshore elements, and managed the restructuring-balancing UK tax, home-jurisdiction and commercial considerations.
4. Serving as family offices’ London office. For family offices with international interests, we act as the standing UK presence: consolidated quarterly reporting to the principals, financial controller duties across the UK entities, coordination of UK legal and banking relationships, and tax compliance for family members with UK ties.

Begin with a conversation. Engagements of this kind most often start with an introduction, followed by a confidential discussion of the family’s objectives. Contact us to arrange an initial discussion.

Related advice: Succession Planning & IHT, International Businesses Expanding into the UK, and New UK Residents.