Fraud: Agents offered free compliance check-up by Pro...

Agents are being offered a free review of their compliance status between now and the end of March by a PropTech platform.

Checkboard says it’s offering its Portfolio Review to help estate and letting companies which it fears may - unwittingly - be putting owners and agents at risk of fines because of non-compliance.

Yazad Bajina, sales and partnership director at Checkboard, says agents will not have to do any manual activity as the review will be automated.

The initiative follows a webinar last month, attended by 140 industry professionals and dedicated to discussions how to combat the growing threat of property fraud.

“The webinar was really well-attended and engaging, and it was great to see so many agents taking their compliance obligations with regards to fraud really seriously” says Bajina.

“Agents have a crucial role to play in this, and are often the first line of defence against fraud occurring. By knowing the signs to spot, the red flags, and also by having the right systems and infrastructure in place, agents can help to limit and prevent fraud from happening.”

However, he says compliance issues are not always number one on agents’ to-do lists, hence his offer of a free review. He comments: “That way, the gaps in which the crooks and criminals operate can be closed, or made much more resolute, to prevent the sorts of high-profile fraud cases we’ve been seeing in the press of late. Now is a good time to be compliant because this product allows previous/current property dealings to go through AML checks, but also allows agents to be compliant moving forward."