Archive

Concerned homeowners and gardeners are frequently mistaking common garden plants such as bindweed, dogwood and lilac for highly invasive Japanese knotweed,...

Go back a hundred years and property transactions were a much simpler affair. A group of people could get together in...

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

Agents are being urged to increase their efforts when it comes to checking documents to avoid potential claims. Paul Offley, compliance officer...

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

CRMs can be superheroes for your business, but not all of them possess the necessary powers to save the day. As...

ValPal has announced an advanced AI technology tool designed to help agents generate property profiles in a snap. With ValPal AI, property...

As a property market expert, I have been closely monitoring the challenges faced by the housing market, particularly the issue of...

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

Agents are ‘wrongly’ relying on hard copies of identity documents to verify people’s identities in anti-money laundering (AML) checks, new research...

LonRes has teamed up with compliance consultancy iCompli to launch a  range of services which they say will keep estate agents...

Those aficionados of the Sound of Music will recognise the tag line above. It came to my mind when thinking about...

Agents are being told by a trade body to conduct more frequent risk reviews and check purchaser identities against up to...

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

Propertymark, the main industry trade body, has this evening updated its guidance on Covid safety for estate and letting agents in...

An extensive online training programme has been devised to help properly professionals identify and treat Japanese Knotweed. A programme of 15 videos...

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on all aspects of our lives, but undoubtedly one major negative side effect...

Estate agents are being urged to ensure their compliance procedures are up to scratch after fraudsters stole a man’s identity and...

Increasingly rigorous Money Laundering Directives have made regulations in the property industry more stringent than ever, and Estate Agents have a...

In the UK, 3.5 million households — which is over one-third of UK households — are either privately or socially rented,...

Apart from a buoyant market, high transaction levels, and consumer confidence in the property market, one considerable additional benefit which has...

Anyone working in residential property knows it is taking longer and longer to get from SSTC (sold subject to contract) to...

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...

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

A PropTech company has won a grant for a project to improve ID verification in the buying and selling process, via...

The property market, and therefore, estate agents have been accused of being the 'weak link' in the UK’s money laundering defences. This...

The government has issued new guidance to estate and lettings agencies on their obligations regarding money laundering issues - and online...

Buyer registrations and sales enquiries are reportedly back to pre-Covid levels. Completions, however, are lagging behind. This is probably down to...

In the field of conveyancing, there’s a new dynamic at play. And that dynamic is customer-driven and customer-focused, using digital technology...

An IT firm says small and medium-sized estate agencies without the infrastructure of large corporates are putting themselves and their customers...

The government has moved to crack down on money laundering in the UK with a new campaign focusing on the accountancy,...

I am a patient man; a pacifist. Yet there is little in life right now that would satisfy me more than...

Making my way to our London office on a busy commuter train, my mind got busy thinking about the new do-it-yourself...

Does your company apply adequate customer due diligence measures when carrying out estate agency work?  Does it establish and maintain appropriate policies...

The Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require estate agents to risk assess their business relationships and apply an appropriate level of investigation...

The Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require estate agents to risk assess their business relationships and apply an appropriate level of investigation...

The Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require estate agents to risk assess their business relationships and apply an appropriate level of investigation...

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - which replaces the Data Protection Act 1998 - has now become effective and is...

How much more of it would you have if you could do all your month-end payments and reconciliations in a couple...

A survey suggests that the average fine incurred by estate agents for apparent non-compliance with anti-money laundering regulations is £11,842. Research by...

The magazine Mortgage Strategy says Countrywide is investigating reports that one of its estate agent branches pressured buyers to use in-house...

When it comes to property, ‘Japanese knotweed’ are the two words most homeowners and prospective buyers do not want to hear.  With...

Coming into force on May 25, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - which replaces the Data Protection Act 1998 -...

“Are we there yet?” In the same way that these words can drive you to distraction (any parent who has endured the...

Japanese knotweed, the invasive plant brought over to Britain in the Victorian era, threatens millions of pounds worth of property transactions...

The former managing director of Countrywide’s estate agency division has joined the board of a PropTech firm wanting to introduce facial...

Hybrid agency Purplebricks and website allAgents have failed in their bid to reach agreement over the accuracy and source of a...

The Property Ombudsman has taken the unusual step of warning all estate and letting agents to act with caution over fraudulent...

Estate agents complying with new anti-money laundering regulations introduced this week are unlikely to avoid falling foul of terrorists and criminal...

Two figures with high profiles in the world of PropTech have formed a consultancy to try to sell their services to...

The housing market has not been short of a White Paper over the last few months, and while you might just...

The Law Society of England and Wales have moved to clarify the legal position of electronic signature and have endorsed their...

Conducting Customer Due Diligence on clients and beneficial owners is a requirement for all estate agents.   The articles in this series...

“Estate Agents have been highlighted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) as under reporting relative to their vulnerability to money...

Property journalists, and more than a few estate agents, are beginning their annual autumn ritual – forecasting what’s going to happen...

The government is telling councils to produce local plans for new homes in their area by 2017 – or Whitehall will...

There has been much debate in recent years about Britain’s desperate need for more housing stock. Demand has been outstripping supply...