Letting agents across the UK will face new financial sanctions reporting obligations from (14th May 2025), as outlined by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI).
These obligations apply to all letting agencies work, not just lettings with monthly rents of €10,000 (£8,700) or more.
Under the forthcoming rules, letting agents are required to conduct financial sanctions checks when formally instructed to find land to let for a month or more.
Checks should be done on the landlord at instruction, and on the tenant before a tenancy agreement is signed.
If, after performing a financial sanctions check, a letting agent suspects a person is a designated person or has breached financial sanctions regulations, they must report this to OFSI promptly.
Propertymark has created a fact sheet to help members understand and comply with the new regulations, outlining the sanctions reporting obligations and necessary actions.
Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark, said: “Letting agents must recognise that the financial sanctions reporting obligations will apply in relation to letting agency work irrespective of the value of any rental agreement, which is different to registration for supervision and Customer Due Diligence checks under the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations.
“Propertymark has long encouraged letting agents to check who their landlords are as they take them on and from May they must check to see if their names appear on the consolidated list of financial sanctions.”
Emerson added: “Tenant referencing and ID checks already take place and in England, a Right to Rent check is carried out but checks going forward will also need to be done against the consolidated list.
“We have a range of resources and information to support member agents as it’s important that financial sanctions checks are carried out, any third-party supplier that an agent uses is aware, and staff know what to do should they need to report information to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.”
