From tomorrow letting agents must check tenants, landlords, and other clients against the UK\u2019s official sanctions list.<\/p>\n
If they find or suspect a match, they will be legally required to report it to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and freeze any property or assets.<\/p>\n
Tenants or landlords may be on a sanctions list due to: money laundering; terrorist financing; human rights violations; organised crime; as well as political corruption and other national security threats<\/p>\n
Nishma Parekh, Goodlord\u2019s director of referencing, said: \u201cThis week is critical for letting agents. New rules around sanctions checks represent a major shift for the industry and it would be very easy for letting agents to unwittingly fall foul of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single landlord and tenant, no matter the rental value, must now go through sanctions checks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith four in five landlords feeling unprepared for the changes, it\u2019s vital that they get their ducks in a row immediately if they want to stay on the right side of the law. If they fail to comply \u2013 even if it\u2019s a genuine mistake \u2013 they could be facing unfathomable fines of up to \u00a31m.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
If agents fail to comply with checks they could face a seven-figure fine and criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n
Agents must check landlords once they\u2019re formally instructed.<\/p>\n
Tenants need to be checked once an offer has been accepted, prior to a tenancy agreement being issued. As it stands checks are only required when rent exceeds \u00a38,300 per month.<\/p>\n
Goodlord research found that most agents aren\u2019t ready for this regulatory change, as just one in five agents and landlords said they feel prepared for the new rules coming into force.<\/p>\n
Nishma Parekh, Goodlord\u2019s director of referencing, said: \u201cFaced with a seemingly never-ending barrage of new regulation, it\u2019s little wonder that so many landlords and agents feel concerned about their ability to comply.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From tomorrow letting agents must check tenants, landlords, and other clients against the UK\u2019s official sanctions list. If they find or suspect a match, they will be legally required to report it to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and freeze any property or assets. Tenants or landlords may be on a sanctions list due […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-second-home"],"yoast_head":"\n