Compliance
Half of top-end estate agents are flouting AML rules – official report
50% of estate agencies advertising properties for sale at £5 million are either not registered for anti money laundering supervision with HMRC, or have failed to pay their annual fee, according to a new…
Foreign Office warns of ‘Magnitsky-style sanctions’ on Chinese individuals
Sanctions against individuals following China's antics in Hong Kong could involve high-value property assets in the UK.
Rightmove to host AML webinar as remote working heightens dangers
'Despite the pandemic, money laundering hasn’t gone away, in fact quite the opposite', says FCS' Jerry Walters...
Why your client checks need to be more thorough than ever
Following the NCA’s latest victory involving the use of so-called McMafia orders, criminal litigation specialist Ed Smyth warns on the potential implications for prime real estate advisers...
New money laundering guidance for estate agents
HMRC has published a new set of risk indicators, with advice for property professionals on how to spot and tackle money laundering.
UK comes close to last in OECD property tax rankings
Britain slips down to 22nd position in the International Tax Competitiveness Index, and is now ranked 33rd out of 36 on property taxes...
PCL solicitor suspended over AML failings
A Mayfair-based solicitor has been suspended for nine months for failing to have an appropriate anti-money laundering policy in place.
HMRC hits Purplebricks with £260k fine over AML breach
£266,793 penalty was levied for 'failures in having the correct policies, controls and procedures, conducting due diligence and timing of verification'.
Estate agents are ‘de facto agents of the Russian state’, claims Parliamentary report
There's "a growth industry of ‘enablers’ including lawyers, accountants, and estate agents who are – wittingly or unwittingly – de facto agents of the Russian state", according to the Intelligence…
New British sanctions regime clamps down on ‘blood money’ property acquisitions
"Those with blood on their hands, the thugs and despots, the henchmen and dictators, will not be free to waltz into this country to buy up property on the King’s Road," declares Foreign Secretary Dominic…
£4.4bn of Scottish property owned by offshore firms
Scotland is losing out on tax revenue as a result, say campaign groups
Vatican arrests London property middleman over Sloane Avenue deal
Gianluigi Torzi is being held on suspicion of extortion, embezzlement, aggravated fraud and money laundering, in relation to the multi-million pound acquisition of 60 Sloane Avenue.