Propertymark has opened compliance cases against a small number of members following the latest HMRC publication of businesses who have failed to comply with anti-money laundering regulations.
The list of businesses who failed to comply with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 during the period 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2022, showed 66 agents had been issued penalties, five of which are Propertymark members.
Across the whole list of 66 property businesses, the nature of the published breaches included: failing to apply for registration at the required time; failures in carrying out risk assessments, having correct policies, controls and procedures in place; conducting due diligence and record keeping; and failures in the provision of registration information.
In reaction to this, Propertymark’s team of compliance auditors have been offering support to members in reviewing compliance with legislation – issuing regular reminders about responsibility and liability, updates on HMRC and Trading Standards enforcement and penalties, and information on data protection.
Propertymark said that it knows that compliance can be a minefield for both lettings and sales agents and legislation is constantly changing, so its visits from its compliance team have proven to be invaluable to its members.
Propertymark undertakes these visits in person and is currently undergoing development in order to get their team members out and about more frequently, supporting the procedures that agents have in place.
This provides ample opportunity for agents to get feedback on how they comply, thus ensuring they are up to speed with what can seem like a constantly evolving industry.
Through this new focus upon compliance, Propertymark aims to remind all agents falling within scope of the importance of being registered with HMRC, and of implementing processes and training to ensure that staff throughout your business understand their responsibilities and support your compliance.
