Find out in 2 minutes. Answer a few questions and get a free AML readiness check against the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, plus the documents HMRC expects (Firm-Wide Risk Assessment and CDD/EDD policy) — ready to be reviewed by a UK solicitor.
A few questions about your clients, transactions and the AML controls you have in place today.
An AML readiness assessment against MLR 2017, with your regime under HMRC and your priority gaps.
A Firm-Wide Risk Assessment and CDD/EDD policy tailored to your agency, ready to be reviewed by a UK solicitor.
It takes about 2 minutes. Answer in your own words — no technical jargon needed.
Assessing your agency's AML risk and preparing the documents…
This can take 10 to 40 seconds.
Yes. Estate agency businesses (and letting agents above the rental threshold) are supervised by HMRC under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. You must register with HMRC, carry out a firm-wide risk assessment, do customer due diligence on buyer and seller, appoint a nominated officer and keep records. Carrying on the business without registering with HMRC is a criminal offence. The free vrisk check shows where you stand.
It's the document that assesses your agency's money-laundering risk across customers, geography, products/services and delivery channels, and sets out how you mitigate it. It's required under Regulation 18 of MLR 2017 and underpins your risk-based approach. A generic, copied or out-of-date risk assessment is one of the most common reasons HMRC takes action — vrisk generates one tailored to your agency.
CDD is verifying and understanding your client. In a property sale it must be done on both the buyer and the seller. Where a client is a company or trust you must identify the beneficial owner — the person who ultimately owns or controls it. Higher-risk cases (PEPs, high-risk countries) require enhanced due diligence (EDD). vrisk produces a CDD/EDD policy for your firm.
Whenever you have reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering, your nominated officer should submit a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) to the National Crime Agency (NCA). You do not need certainty — a reasonable suspicion is enough — and you must avoid "tipping off" the client. vrisk generates an internal SAR procedure so staff know how to raise and escalate concerns.
vrisk generates the documents (FWRA, CDD/EDD policy, AML manual and more) from a short questionnaire, doing most of the heavy lifting. But AML is a regulated matter supervised and inspected by HMRC: the documents should be reviewed by your nominated officer (MLRO) and a qualified UK solicitor or AML professional before you adopt them. vrisk does not provide legal or regulatory advice.