Compliance
Required Reading: Understanding Building Regulations
Building regs can sometimes be overlooked in the course of a transaction, but non-compliance can have expensive and potentially dangerous real world consequences.
Offshore companies have bought-up £150bn of UK property in the last 15 years
Over £150bn-worth of UK property has been bought-up by offshore firms since 1999, according to new research by The Sunday Times.
Immigration Bill: Why Greg Clark should let letting agents do their job
All this unpaid work is making life so tedious that it's almost not worth doing the job at all, says Trevor Abrahmsohn...
Cameron’s ‘Dirty Money’ Shakedown: Prime property industry reactions
David Cameron's vow to crack down on the purchase of UK properties via “anonymous shell companies” grabbed plenty of headlines yesterday.
Shelling Out: PM pledges action on ‘dirty money’ in UK’s luxury property market
David Cameron has announced a crackdown on the purchase of UK properties via "anonymous shell companies".
From Chelsea To The Clink: Estate agency, money laundering and some guy called Boris
In the wake of that undercover documentary, financial crime specialist Dan Hyde explains why, in money laundering offences, a lack of intent - or an illicit deal - is no defence...
Undercover documentary ‘a blow to public confidence in the wider property profession’ – RICS
Last week's Channel 4 documentary showing an undercover journalist attempting to buy London property with "stolen" cash was "a blow to public confidence in the wider property profession", says RICS.
Top end London property agents targeted in undercover Channel 4 sting
Directed and produced by Dan Reed, whose previous work includes hard-hitting documentaries like The Paedophile Hunter and Terror In The Mall
NAEA warns to be prepared for anti-money laundering spot checks
The National Association of Estate Agents has flagged up that HMRC has been dropping in on random estate agency branches to check up on anti-money laundering protocols...
Government issues competition law warning to estate and lettings agents
The Competition and Markets Authority has been firing out warning letters to firms it suspects being mixed up in anti-competitive agreements to restrict the advertising of fees.
UK property market ‘has become a safe haven for corrupt capital’
A total of 36,342 properties in London are held by hidden companies registered in offshore havens, according to a major new study by an anti-corruption agency.
Why rich-bashing is not going to fix this housing crisis
"No one is suggesting that there are not corrupt people around the world," says London Central Portfolio's Naomi Heaton, but that doesn't mean that everyone who owns a London property through an offshore company…