Archive

Estate agents working with international individuals can face a significant risk of encountering money laundering activities. The complex nature of cross-border...

The Conveyancing Association (CA) - the leading trade body for the conveyancing industry – is to host a webinar for member...

HMRC and the Treasury have been urged to improve guidance on anti-money laundering (AML). Agency trade body Propertymark has suggested that while...

Complete guidance on Material Information parts A, B and C has been live in the property industry since last November. While...

In the first quarter of the year, the UK real estate investment market demonstrated resilience and active participation. Despite ongoing uncertainties,...

If you’re thinking about becoming an Estate Agency franchise or converting your existing estate agency business to a franchise, here we...

Home-buying and property part exchange service Spring has partnered with developer McCarthy Stone. The partnership will enable Spring to offer its part...

Estate agents and lettings agents have a legal obligation to protect themselves from money laundering and as such you must recognise...

For most of us, estate agents are key when it comes to the biggest sales and purchases of our lives. With the...

There’s been a significant rise in the number of so-called Suspicious Activity Reports concerning money laundering and the agency industry. Suspicious Activity...

The vast majority of negligence claims against conveyancers are for relatively low sums of money, but the financial and reputational costs...

Five years ago, Lettings expert, Tim Lawler, wrote an article for Estate Agent Today charting his early experiences of setting up...

A new service has launched to provide buyers of prime and super-prime residential properties with an appraisal of the property’s suitability,...

The benefits for letting agents to outsource their client accounting is well documented, however with an increasing number of options available,...

SmartSearch looks at the importance of incorporating Source of Funds checks into KYC processes It is no secret that the UK property...

Leading digital compliance firm SmartSearch has launched an innovative new solution to help professionals working within the UK property sector to...

Tackling economic crime is part of the day job for estate agents. But how can the latest digital ID tools help...

TM Group, a high profile provider of data and technology services such as tmconvey, mio, and tmconnect, has been sold to...

CRM provider Street.co.uk has partnered with Smart Compliance to give agents access to its tools. With the integration of Smart Compliance into...

An artificial intelligence-powered property due diligence platform that is popular in the commercial market has raised £7.5m to help expand into...

Conveyancing software provider Smoove’s flagship agency product has been “paused.” Smoove Start was launched last year, providing a platform for agents to...

Recent research estimated that up to £100 billion is being stolen in the UK each year, with much of it due...

A new product to help agents meet their anti-money laundering (AML) responsibilities has launched. Lifetime Legal has unveiled Smart Compliance, which advises...

Sales progression service ASAP has launched a new anti-money laundering (AML) product to help agents comply with due diligence requirements and...

The dreaded ‘C word’ – compliance – has been facing Estate Agents for years now and it’s not going anywhere. Looking ahead...

Search Acumen has announced a new partnership that aims to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in conveyancing Property data, insight...

Two of the biggest challenges facing the property industry right now are fraud and money laundering. The scale of these activities is...

AML experts SmartSearch warn estate agents that, with so many firms still hiding behind ‘opaque corporate structures,’ proper due diligence has...

With the property market showing signs of a slow-down and the economic outlook rather uncertain, we spoke to Lucy Noonan, founder...

HMRC fined 24 estate agency and property businesses for anti-money laundering (AML) breaches between April and June 2022, new figures show. The...

We spent some time with Lucy Noonan, Founder and CEO of Atomic Consultancy, to pick her brains about the many moving...

In this guest feature, Dillon Darbar, counter fraud manager at Network Homes, sets out why estate agents need to be aware...

HMRC has fined estate agents over £500,000 for anti-money laundering (AML) breaches in the past two months. Yet despite property managers...

Conveyancing software provider Smoove has revealed that 30 branches across 18 firms have so far signed up to its new flagship...

Dozens of estate agents have been fined a combined total of £519,645 for failing to meet their obligations under anti-money laundering...

If recent headlines are anything to go by, estate agents and the wider property industry are not just feeling the heavy...

Over the last five years, the Government has introduced a range of measures to regulate the property market, particularly in the...

Trade body Propertymark has revealed that it has opened compliance cases against a small number of members following the latest HMRC...

Smoove has announced the full market rollout of its digital onboarding platform, Smoove Start. The conveyancing software provider’s latest tool provides a...

Conveyancing software provider Smoove is set to rollout a new flagship estate agency product following a successful trial phase. Smoove Start was...

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) recently published a list of firms that have received penalty notices for failure to meet their...

It’s taken Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the UK to finally take a much-needed step in the right direction to stop...

Double-think, for those who have not read George Orwell, is when people are expected to accept two conflicting beliefs as truth,...

Smart conveyancers are making themselves indispensable to estate agents by doing their due diligence for them. Until now, estate agents and conveyancers...

Property firms are still failing to make basic anti-money laundering checks (AML), and some may even unwittingly be helping politically exposed...

An anti-money laundering (AML) has queried why there are so few checks on UK property buyers compared with those from overseas. Tim...

Cybersecurity and cryptocurrencies have been identified among the main risks facing conveyancers. The latest Risk Agenda report from the Council for Licensed...

Agents are being given the chance to learn how to improve their anti-money laundering (AML) processes from a veteran police investigator. Rightmove...

In this latest ‘Women in Property’ edition of the Natter, I check in with Collette Allen, who was recently appointed as...

More than 30 agents and property firms such as auction houses and valuers were reprimanded by HMRC for anti-money laundering breaches...

Just this month, the Government Property Agency kicked off its search for a digital chief to lead its 10-year technology journey,...

Yesterday afternoon, Helena Marston was finally confirmed as Purplebricks new CEO after all the due diligence checks that are required for...

Following a series of unexplained delays, Helena Marston has now finally been confirmed as the new chief executive of beleaguered agency...

PayProp’s recent Rental Confidence Index survey polled property professionals about their biggest concerns for 2022. Unsurprisingly, new regulations were a top...

Technology developed for the estate agency industry has advanced and expanded seismically over the past decade as software vendors develop their...

Purplebricks ended the trading day yesterday without being able to formally welcome its new chief executive but the markets appeared to...

Mystery surrounds the appointment of Purplebricks new chief executive following a stockmarket update this morning. Helena Marston was due to start as...

One of the most valuable assets to any company is the data it stores. According to a recent study completed by...

In this guest feature, Chris Mason, Operations Director at The Letting Partnership, outlines why agents might want to consider outsourcing client accounting. The...

A legal expert has warned that everyone is theoretically at risk of committing a breach of sanctions against Russia - but...

The path from agent to developer is not easy, but it is a relatively straightforward one, if you are willing to...

The Purplebricks share price remained relatively unchanged yesterday following the shock announcement that chief executive Vic Darvey was quitting the company...

Of the many industry buzzwords, I suspect “upfront information” was up there as one of the most widely used in 2021....

Estate agents and other property businesses need to ensure their customer screening processes are robust and up to date following extensive...

A national newspaper has lifted the lid on what it alleges to be the backgrounds of high-end self-employed agents who feature...

The outcome of the Ukraine crisis is far from certain, but one thing has become abundantly clear. The long-overdue Economic Crime...

‘Knowledge is power’ goes the old saying, and one variation on that theme is a quote from academic, Robert Boyce, who...

The UK property industry has long been a target of fraudsters due to the low levels of transparency and the fact...

MRI Software explores the use of PropTech to enhance the performance of the sales and lettings processes and how to select...

An hour-long webinar this week aims to inform agents how to deter property fraud by greater emphasis on compliance, due diligence...

A survey of agents suggests the majority believe the process of buying and selling residential properties will be fully digital or...

Compliance check list - are you New Year ready? The start of a new year is a great time for estate agents...

Property fraud is on the rise and early in 2022 agents will have an opportunity to attend a webinar featuring a...

Despite the progress made in so many areas, particularly in terms of leasehold reform – although we are calling upon the...

A prominent law expert is claiming that a high profile case of property fraud, reported earlier this week, involved a “devastating...

In this op-ed, Warwick Haycock, accounting software specialist at The Access Group, looks at how the use of tech can empower...

A property specialist is warning about “modern day ambulance chasers” who try to convince buyers they have paid too much stamp duty.  “An increasing...

Like most industries, estate agency is changing. A general trend to a more hybrid model, accelerated by the pandemic has resulted...

Chancellor Rishi Sunak says HM Revenue & Customs will probe any alleged wrongdoing in property purchases included in the so-called Pandora...

Propertymark has spoken out over the Pandora Papers leak scandal, which reveals many elite and super-rich buyers of properties in London...

Hunters, now part of The Property Franchise Group, has announced its first so-called ‘Personal Agent’ signing - and says it’s ideal...

The recent stamp duty holiday and the subsequent conveyancing logjam this triggered has acted as a wakeup call for the industry....

Regulators are warning the UK’s property, finance and legal sectors to be aware of the possible impacts of the exit from...

We are living in the age of information. Our working and personal lives are underpinned by software, data and technology to...

A company says it’s gathering £500m in funding to purchase properties for a “gradual home ownership” scheme - a variation on...

Three property agents feature on the latest list of businesses in trouble for failing to comply with money laundering regulations. The list...

Recent research shows that when asked what their ideal working set up would be, most agents said ‘hybrid’* and with proposals...

Ben Ridgway gives his views on the current market, material information and PropTech for agents. What is your current view of the...

A self employed franchise estate agent business model has been launched by one of the brands in The Property Franchise Group. Hunters...

As estate agencies are covered by Money Laundering Regulations, agents are legally obliged to take customer due diligence measures to limit...

While running customer identification and verification checks is part and parcel of the onboarding process for estate agents, under UK anti...

After a recent incident involving an Estate Agent based in Devon in which a property virtual tour they published revealed a...

With property fraud on the rise and an ever-increasing number of transactions taking place in the lettings sector, having strict anti-money laundering...

In the first of our revamped PropTech Today series - which will see six industry experts discussing a range of issues...

In this week’s In Conversation Today, I chat with Fine & Country UK’s managing director Nicky Stevenson, one of the most...

Two leading agencies and an agent network have signed up to the UK’s first dedicated portal for those finding, researching, buying...

The Chancellor’s recent announcement that the stamp duty holiday would be extended for another three months was undoubtedly great news for...

An industry group charged with trying to make house buying simpler and quicker says it’s made a breakthrough on ‘upfront’ information...

In this week’s In Conversation Today, I speak with Anthony Payne, Managing Director and co-founder of LonRes, a data and network...

Conveyancing volumes rose 27 per cent in just one month as the sector attempts to cope with huge demand prompted by...