HMRC and industry regulator the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team have agreed new ways of co-operation.
The aim is to enhance the flow of information on estate agency businesses and whether they have registered under money laundering regulations and for property redress schemes.
Designed to make it more difficult for non-compliant agents to operate outside the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and Estate Agency Act 1979, the agreement will enable both parties “to target areas of risk, those who are trading without registering appropriately and those who may not be meeting their obligations”.
We hope it does improve the flow of communications: however, this one seems to have been somewhat tardy.
The new arrangement has apparently been in place since the start of the year, but the Government only issued its press release on February 16.
And there is nothing about it on the NTSEAT website.
Congratulations to James and Leigh at NTSEAT for following through on the concerns raised about a certain well-known agent whose representatives were not registered with HMRC for money-laundering. Closer cooperation on this important issue between agencies will help remove what has been a major problem in estate agency as highlighted in the past year. Hopefully prosecutions will now follow where appropriate.
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Big brother is getting bigger!
Serious comment: whenever one sees an official statement talking about the ‘Estate Agency Act’ you know they do not know their subject! It is like the ‘Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ – a fairly common and equally mystical beast!
BTB
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