Anti-Money Laundering

1st January 2021

 

All property agents in the UK are subject to the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (or MLRs), which require us to verify the identity of our customers and to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement where we have identified a money laundering risk.

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What does this mean for you?

In order to act for you we are required by law to verify your identity before entering into a business relationship. This means that before marketing a property we must obtain and hold identification and proof of address for all clients. For business clients we may require additional company documentation relating to the incorporation and structure of the company or organisation.

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Let’s get started

We want to get working for you as quickly as possible, whether that is getting your property to market or completing on a sale. However, we need to satisfy our legal obligations before we can go forward so the sooner you can provide us with the relevant information the sooner we can get started.

 

Verifying your identity

 

Individuals

We are required by law to verify your identity and address, which can be done in any of the following ways:

• You can provide us with copies of your identification documents, which have been certified by a reliable, independent source (i.e. a solicitor or notary public).

• Or, you always can visit us in branch and bring your original documents with you for us to verify ourselves.

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We require one photographic identification document (i.e. passport or driving licence) and one proof of address document (i.e. utility bill). We have included a full list of acceptable documentation for both UK and non-UK based individuals below.

 

Business clients

We are normally required to verify the identity of the person we are dealing with on behalf of a business or organisation, even if you are not an owner or controlling director. Depending on the type of organisation we will sometimes ask for additional documentation such as formation documents or organisational charts.

 

Additionally, we are also required to establish whether there are any beneficial owners (persons who own 25%+ or who have a controlling stake in the business) on whose behalf the transaction or activity is taking place. We will not be able to proceed to market a property without having verified the identity of any beneficial owners, so, in order to speed up the process, we request that you identify anyone who you consider to be a beneficial owner at the outset of our instruction.

 

Source of funds

The MLRs also require us to request information on the source of funds where appropriate, for example, where you are making an offer to purchase a property marketed by our company. This is generally straight forward and normally only requires a brief explanation of where the funds used to complete the purchase have come from. However, we may sometimes require additional information such as bank statements.

 

Individual Identity Documents

We require one document from List A and one recent document from List B (dated within the past 3 months).

 

List A (proof of name)

UK Individuals –

·       UK Passport

·       Full UK Driving Licence

·       Young Scot National Entitlement Card

·       ID Card issued by Electoral Roll office for NI

·       Photographic registration cards for self-employed individuals in the construction industry

·       CIS4

If photographic ID is unavailable two of the following documents are required:

·       Original UK Birth Certificate

·       Firearms/Shotgun Certificate

·       NI Card and P60

·       Benefit book or original notification letter from a Benefits Agency

·       Local authority council tax bill for the current council tax year

·       State Pension

·       HMRC self-assessment letters or tax demand dated within the current financial year

Non-UK Individuals

·       EEA photocard driving licence

·       EEA State ID Card

·       Passport (with number or preferably MRZ)

·       National identity card bearing a photograph of the applicant

·       Residence permit issued by the Home Office to EEA nationals on sight of own country passport

If photographic ID is unavailable two of the following documents are required:

·       Birth Certificate

·       Firearms Certificate

·       State tax or pension documents

 

List B (proof of address)

UK Individuals:

·       Bank, Building Society or Credit Union statement or passbook dated within the last three months

·       Utility bill (gas, electric, satellite television, landline phone bill) issued within the last three months

·       Original mortgage statement from a recognised lender issued for the last full year

·       Solicitors letter within the last three months confirming recent house purchase or land registry confirmation of address

·       Benefit book or original notification letter from a Benefits Agency (but not if used as proof of name)

·       Local authority council tax bill for the current council tax year (but not if used as proof of name)

·       Electoral register

·       HMRC self-assessment letters for tax demand dated within the current financial year (but not if used as proof of name)

·       Council or housing association rent card or tenancy agreement for the current year

·       NHS Medical card or letter of confirmation from GP’s practice of registration with the surgery

 

Non-UK Individuals:

International equivalent of above.