Are you compliant with new AML rules?

HM Revenue & Customs has beefed up anti-money laundering (AML) rules for estate and letting agents.

In new guidance issued in September, HMRC has changed its risk assessment guidance from advisory to mandatory.

Agents need to be able to prove how they assess 34 named risk factors, including unusual pricing behaviour, links between buyers and sellers, and customers with corporate structures based partly outside the UK. All 34 indicators must be covered by name in your agency’s Business Risk Assessment.

This means that some third-party AML solutions may not be sufficient, so it’s important to check that they cover all the necessary points. As the HMRC guidance points out, the agency is still responsible for any breach of the regulations.  

The estate agency sector is already under the microscope: in July, HMRC data showed that 58% of the 883 fines they had issued over the previous year were to estate and letting agents.  

And the level of scrutiny could soon go up further. The Treasury is preparing to make the Financial Conduct Authority the single regulator for AML. There’s no deadline in place for that yet, but it could mean even tougher enforcement.