Anti-Money Laundering Information

Money laundering is the term used to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and control of the proceeds of crime by making such proceeds appear to have come from a legitimate source.

Duncan Yeardley is committed to fulfilling its obligations under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Terrorism Act 2000 and other relevant legislation, for the purposes of combatting money laundering and terrorist financing. Duncan Yeardley carries out client identification checks on all landlords and tenants at the beginning of the business relationship as well as seeking to establish, where appropriate, the source of wealth and source of funds used in transactions in which we are involved. Duncan Yeardley also has in place procedures to ensure that any suspicions that a money laundering offence has been or is being committed are reported to the appropriate authorities.

We are required by law to conduct anti-money laundering checks on all those selling, buying or letting a property. Whilst we retain responsibility for ensuring checks and any ongoing monitoring are carried out correctly, the initial checks are carried out on our behalf by Lifetime Legal who will contact you once you have agreed to instruct us in your sale or let or had an offer accepted on a property you wish to buy.

You will need to complete their process which will include providing personal information. Lifetime Legal will search several different databases including credit reference bureaux’s, the electoral roll, and HM Land Registry, where relevant. These checks will leave a record of the search within your credit file but will not affect your credit rating.

The cost of these checks is £95 (incl. VAT) for sellers and £65 (incl. VAT) for buyers and landlords, which covers the cost of obtaining relevant data and any manual checks and monitoring which might be required. This fee will need to be paid by you in advance of us publishing your property (in the case of a vendor or landlord) or issuing a memorandum of sale (in the case of a buyer), directly to Lifetime Legal, and is non-refundable. We will receive some of the fee taken by Lifetime Legal to compensate for its role in the provision of these checks.