OFSI licences ground-rent payments by designated tenants

From 12 October 2026 a designated person who is a tenant of property in England or Wales may pay ground rent, service charges and certain late-payment feesPublishing to the UK landlord or managing agentPublishing without breaching asset-freeze prohibitionsPublishing. OFSI General Licence INT/2026/10050568, issued under 26 UK autonomous sanctions regulations, permits the payments for one year, expiring at 23:59 on 11 October 2027Publishing.

The permission covers only an Eligible LeasePublishing: a lease of Relevant Property — land situated in England or Wales —Publishing that falls within subsections 1(1)(a), (b) and (d) of the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 and to which the designated person became party as landlord or tenant before becoming designatedPublishing. A company owned or controlled by a designated person counts as having become designated at the same time as its controller. The licence expressly excludes persons designated for compliance with United Nations obligationsPublishing.

Where the designated person is the tenant, the designated person or someone acting for them may pay service charges, ground rent and late-payment fees incurred under the eligible leasePublishing into a UK bank account held by the landlord, managing agent or a person acting for the landlordGOV. Ground rent excludes amounts payable for services, repairs, maintenance, improvements, insurance or management; late-payment fees cover only interest or default charges expressly payable under the lease for late payment of sums that fell due before the licence's date of issuePublishing, excluding legal, enforcement, collection and other ancillary costsPublishing. The landlord or agent may receive the funds, pass them to a superior landlord's UK account, and hold overpayments as credit against future permitted liabilities. A relevant institution — a bank, payment-services or e-money firm, recognised clearing house, central counterparty, central securities depository or recognised payment-system operator — may process the payments.

Two compliance duties attach. Within 14 days of the end of each calendar quarter the designated person must report to HM TreasuryPublishing, with supporting evidence, the landlord's name, amounts, purpose and demand, payment route and datePublishing. Both landlord and designated person must keep accurate, complete and readable records of anything done under the licence for at least six years. The licence does not authorise making funds or economic resources available in breach of the sanctions regulations beyond its terms, and HM Treasury may vary, revoke or suspend it at any time.

The licence sits alongside the standing position that any act otherwise breaching the listed regulations' prohibitions is exempt only so far as needed to give effect to its permissions. The OFSI general-licences collection page added a row for the licence dated 12 October 2026.

Legal basis: OFSI General Licence INT/2026/10050568 (service charge and ground rent payments), granted under the UK autonomous sanctions regulations listed in its Annex I, including the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and the Belarus, Iran, Syria, Libya and Myanmar regimes.