There has been a 59% surge in anti-money laundering (AML) checks carried out by estate agents, according to findings from Credas Technologies.
During Q1 2024, there were 409,265 AML checks, compared with 257,082 year-on-year.
The amount of illicit funds laundered through the UK was estimated to be at least £88bn.
Under UK Law, estate agents are required to carry out AML checks in line with regulations and guidance set out by HMRC.
These checks include identifying the source of funds used to purchase a property and conducting identity checks on their customers.
If an estate agent is suspicious that their client is attempting to launder illicit funds, they must report this to the National Crime Agency.
Tom Barnett, CEO of Credas Technologies, added: “Over the last 12 months, the UK property market has bounced back with residential transactions in April 2024 reaching 79,590, 17% higher than April 2023, and 9% lower than March 2024.
“Estate agents can play a vital part in preventing money laundering by conducting thorough due diligence to both deter and identify suspicious activity.
“Both buyers and sellers can be involved in money laundering as a means of integrating and layering funds.
“To help estate agents meet their money laundering obligations, we have just launched Credas+, a new managed compliance service which removes the burden of having to manually remediate AML results.”
He added: “The new service offers a single comprehensive solution that delivers a pass or fail result, together with comprehensive compliance reports, including all the remediation evidence.
“We have made a significant investment in our new Credas+ service, which combines managed outsource compliance for PEPs, Sanctions & IDV.
“Estate agents will be able to reduce both their workload and the administrative burden of compliance.
“We are a leading provider of digital compliance solutions and have processed 2.3 million people through our platform in the last 12 months alone.
“That’s about one in 20 adults in the UK aged 18 to 65 in just a year.”
