Anti-Money Laundering

As estate and letting agents, we are required by law to help prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. Under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, we must verify the identity of the people we act for and the people they do business with, and understand where the money in a transaction comes from.

We are supervised for anti-money laundering purposes by HM Revenue & Customs. These checks are a legal requirement and are not a reflection on you personally.

Depending on the transaction, we will carry out checks on:

• Sellers, before we market a property on their behalf
• Buyers, once an offer has been accepted
• Landlords, before we let a property on their behalf
• Tenants, where the law requires it (for example, high-value lets)
• Anyone acting on behalf of, or with a controlling interest in, a company, trust or other organisation that is a party to the transaction

To confirm who you are, we will usually ask for:

• Photo ID, such as a valid passport or photocard driving licence
• Proof of address dated within the last three months, such as a utility bill, council tax bill or bank statement
• For buyers, evidence of how the purchase is being funded, such as a mortgage agreement in principle, bank statements, or details of the sale of another property
• Where funds come from a gift, details of the person providing the gift, along with their ID and evidence of their funds

We may use a secure third-party provider to verify your identity electronically. This can involve checking your details against credit reference and other databases. A search of this kind is for identity purposes only and does not affect your credit score.

We cannot market a property for sale or let, or progress an accepted offer, until the relevant checks are complete. To avoid delays, we recommend having your documents ready as early as possible.

• If checks cannot be completed, we may be unable to act for you or to put your offer forward to the seller's solicitor.
• If an offer is formally accepted at this stage and the property is put under offer, the offer cannot be processed to the seller's solicitor until all relvant document checks are complete. You will have 5 working days from the request of documents

If we know or suspect that a transaction involves money laundering or terrorist financing, we are legally required to report it to the National Crime Agency. In these circumstances we may be prevented by law from telling you that a report has been made, and from continuing with the transaction.

Information collected for anti-money laundering purposes is used only to meet our legal obligations. We are required to keep these records for five years after our business relationship ends, after which they are securely destroyed. You can find out more about how we use your data in our Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions about our anti-money laundering checks or what documents you need to provide, please get in touch with your local branch and a member of the team will be happy to help.