Who pays AML checks?

saajan_12

For your purposes / your mortgage, your solicitor carries out AML checks on you as a buyer. The EA also has a duty to not permit money laundering through their business, so check to make themselves comfortable. However the cost of this is a part of running their business, ie come out of their commission. Whether the seller's agreement with their EA means that's part of a fixed fee / fixed % / additional fee, that's between them. 

I'd say you're happy to submit any documentation needed, but the cost should be covered between the seller / EA. 

awfulmemory

Similar problem, albeit buying through shared ownership via Guinness Homes.  99homes E A ( based in India, altho reg in Surrey) are using  A7Z Ltd, based at same address in Surrey (their relative?) and based in India.  Charge: 25 quid. Trouble is, they process their data outside UK and EU.  Think about it. All that data swilling around, god knows where. As estate agents store more and more data, without recourse in the event of misuse and fraud, where do you go? A tangy taste of irony here. 

Another revenue stream.

EssexHebridean

The company the firm I work for uses for AML these days (and condition of our professional indemnity insurance) charges £48 plus VAT for a standard check. That gives an idea of the level of it. That is for a solicitor’s firm carrying out conveyancing though. 

 

RAS

I suspect this is because some dodgy purchases and mortgage fraud implicated EAs who were complicit in the deal. 

But of course gov, we were just an innocent party who had no way of knowing that the vendor didn't own the house, or that the buyer were paying laundered money, mortgage fraud, using inflated prices etc, etc.