Compliance
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 & Securi…
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 R…
£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.
How the super-rich conquered London
London is an "Alpha City", declares Professor Rowland Atkinson
Guild reveals agents’ top coronavirus-related questions
Membership organisation reports much confusion around furloughing, marketing, EPCs, AML, insurance and inventories as agencies struggle to adapt
Government to tap up agents with £100m AML levy
New Economic Crime Levy will fund additional financial investigators and technology in the fight against 'dirty money'
Bloomberg: Crooked banker tapped professionals to manage web of dirty money
Investigation shines a spotlight on the 'enablers' involved in overseeing the luxury assets of Azerbaijan’s Jahangir Hajiyev - reportedly including a set of super-prime mansions on the prestigious St Ge…
Courts uphold Unexplained Wealth Order against a super-prime Knightsbridge property
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Zamira Hajiyeva – the wife of jailed Azerbaijani banker Jahangir Hajiyev – to discharge the Unexplained Wealth Order made against her by the National Cri…