What personal information do estate agents need from you when you sell your house?

twopenny

Do not pay £60 for them to do a check.
Who are they, Ryanair?


Get a different estate agent.
I asked in 4. Went in more than once. One offered me a discount on the percentage. Mentioned this to another and they offered better.

EssexHebridean

Your solicitors will be doing an AML check anyway - smile and point out that as the agents will not be handling any money beyond their commission - which will come from the solicitors - there's no need for AML checks but as a gesture of goodwill you will ask your solicitor to confirm that their checks have all come  back satisfactorily. 

Unfortunately a lot of agents now seem to be insisting on checks far exceeding what they are required to do. I'm sure it's nothing to do with being able to charge a fee for it! 

mills112

EssexHebridean said:

Your solicitors will be doing an AML check anyway - smile and point out that as the agents will not be handling any money beyond their commission - which will come from the solicitors - there's no need for AML checks but as a gesture of goodwill you will ask your solicitor to confirm that their checks have all come  back satisfactorily. 

Unfortunately a lot of agents now seem to be insisting on checks far exceeding what they are required to do. I'm sure it's nothing to do with being able to charge a fee for it! 

as i had said, we had to do the AML checks when we sold our properties but as the seller, i am not sure how much AML checks you can carry out.  they wanted proof of ID, utitlity bills and you had to do one of those selfie on CREDAS.  i can only think they check your ID, the land registry and your address from the utility bill.  and run your name through the AML database to see if there is anything already flagged up for you.  check for criminal records.

but that would be about it i would guess as there is no money to trace.  so unless there is something about you on the AML database or you have a conviction, i don't think you can fail the AML check if you have the ID and proof of address and the name match the property deed at the land registry.

Surrey_EA

EssexHebridean said:

Your solicitors will be doing an AML check anyway - smile and point out that as the agents will not be handling any money beyond their commission - which will come from the solicitors - there's no need for AML checks but as a gesture of goodwill you will ask your solicitor to confirm that their checks have all come  back satisfactorily. 

Unfortunately a lot of agents now seem to be insisting on checks far exceeding what they are required to do. I'm sure it's nothing to do with being able to charge a fee for it! 

And the estate agent might then smile and point out it is a legal requirement (which have been in place for several years)  for agents to carry out AML/ID checks on vendors as well as buyers.

I wouldn't take instructions on a house where the vendor refused to permit these checks.

We don't make any charge to either the seller or purchaser. Frankly I'd rather not have to do it, but it's the regulations we must follow now, and if i ever get audited I'd prefer not to be fined.

Albermarle

Surrey_EA said:

EssexHebridean said:

Your solicitors will be doing an AML check anyway - smile and point out that as the agents will not be handling any money beyond their commission - which will come from the solicitors - there's no need for AML checks but as a gesture of goodwill you will ask your solicitor to confirm that their checks have all come  back satisfactorily. 

Unfortunately a lot of agents now seem to be insisting on checks far exceeding what they are required to do. I'm sure it's nothing to do with being able to charge a fee for it! 

And the estate agent might then smile and point out it is a legal requirement (which have been in place for several years)  for agents to carry out AML/ID checks on vendors as well as buyers.

I wouldn't take instructions on a house where the vendor refused to permit these checks.

We don't make any charge to either the seller or purchaser. Frankly I'd rather not have to do it, but it's the regulations we must follow now, and if i ever get audited I'd prefer not to be fined.

In practice how far can you take an AML check on a vendor, when their financial commitment to the sale is relatively small?
With a buyer you can obviously look for info on the amount needed to purchase the property, but what figure can you look for with the vendor?

Surrey_EA

Albermarle said:

Surrey_EA said:

EssexHebridean said:

Your solicitors will be doing an AML check anyway - smile and point out that as the agents will not be handling any money beyond their commission - which will come from the solicitors - there's no need for AML checks but as a gesture of goodwill you will ask your solicitor to confirm that their checks have all come  back satisfactorily. 

Unfortunately a lot of agents now seem to be insisting on checks far exceeding what they are required to do. I'm sure it's nothing to do with being able to charge a fee for it! 

And the estate agent might then smile and point out it is a legal requirement (which have been in place for several years)  for agents to carry out AML/ID checks on vendors as well as buyers.

I wouldn't take instructions on a house where the vendor refused to permit these checks.

We don't make any charge to either the seller or purchaser. Frankly I'd rather not have to do it, but it's the regulations we must follow now, and if i ever get audited I'd prefer not to be fined.

In practice how far can you take an AML check on a vendor, when their financial commitment to the sale is relatively small?
With a buyer you can obviously look for info on the amount needed to purchase the property, but what figure can you look for with the vendor?

Albermarle said:

Surrey_EA said:

EssexHebridean said:

Your solicitors will be doing an AML check anyway - smile and point out that as the agents will not be handling any money beyond their commission - which will come from the solicitors - there's no need for AML checks but as a gesture of goodwill you will ask your solicitor to confirm that their checks have all come  back satisfactorily. 

Unfortunately a lot of agents now seem to be insisting on checks far exceeding what they are required to do. I'm sure it's nothing to do with being able to charge a fee for it! 

And the estate agent might then smile and point out it is a legal requirement (which have been in place for several years)  for agents to carry out AML/ID checks on vendors as well as buyers.

I wouldn't take instructions on a house where the vendor refused to permit these checks.

We don't make any charge to either the seller or purchaser. Frankly I'd rather not have to do it, but it's the regulations we must follow now, and if i ever get audited I'd prefer not to be fined.

In practice how far can you take an AML check on a vendor, when their financial commitment to the sale is relatively small?
With a buyer you can obviously look for info on the amount needed to purchase the property, but what figure can you look for with the vendor?

Money Laundering Regulations 2017, is the umbrella legislation that covers all these new requirements. Essentially for a vendor the agent is required to confirm the vendor is who they say they are, and that they own the property they are intending to sell. It doesn't exactly extend as far as checking how they managed to buy the house.

user1977

Though things like e.g. having very recently acquired the property in an off-market transaction might give cause for suspicion (as an indicator of a money-laundering or mortgage fraud merry-go-round).

MEM62

mills112 said:

MEM62 said:

CJ5236 said:

@MEM62 - One of the estate agents when I got a valuation said they they do money laundering checks on the seller.

But you are not giving anyone any money, you are receiving it.  There is no source of funds to check for AML.    

we sold a flat last year and we had AML checks carried out by the EA.  they are supposed to check that you didn't get the property from crime i guess as seller can also be part of the crime circle.  so if you didn't get caught buying it, you can get caught selling it.

i sold a couple of houses a few years ago and the EA also carried out AML checks on me as my details were passed to their solicitors to do the AML checks.

Interesting.  I sold a flat (that I had owned for almost 30 years) a couple of years back and had no such checks.  I was not buying anything, just selling.    

Surrey_EA

user1977 said:

Though things like e.g. having very recently acquired the property in an off-market transaction might give cause for suspicion (as an indicator of a money-laundering or mortgage fraud merry-go-round).

Exactly, something like that should trigger a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) to the National Crime Agency.

mills112

MEM62 said:

mills112 said:

MEM62 said:

CJ5236 said:

@MEM62 - One of the estate agents when I got a valuation said they they do money laundering checks on the seller.

But you are not giving anyone any money, you are receiving it.  There is no source of funds to check for AML.    

we sold a flat last year and we had AML checks carried out by the EA.  they are supposed to check that you didn't get the property from crime i guess as seller can also be part of the crime circle.  so if you didn't get caught buying it, you can get caught selling it.

i sold a couple of houses a few years ago and the EA also carried out AML checks on me as my details were passed to their solicitors to do the AML checks.

Interesting.  I sold a flat (that I had owned for almost 30 years) a couple of years back and had no such checks.  I was not buying anything, just selling.    

i find the big estate agents are more pedantic as i guess they are looked at more closely by the authorities and they have more money to spend on legal services.

the smaller estate agents in areas where the properties are cheaper don't tend to be so vigorous with their checks and rely on the solicitors to do it, but apparently they are responsible for the vetting themselves as they are the gateway for crime money.