Know Your Client (KYC)

As with all estate agents and real estate advisors, due to the transactional nature of our business, we are required by law to carry out Know Your Client (KYC) checks.

These checks ensure that we are compliant with our legal obligations. Furthermore, they assist regulators to ensure that the real estate industry is not misused to facilitate money laundering, the financing of terrorism or criminal activities.

We comply with the relevant legislation and we apply our checks to every client who uses our services. We will never ask for more information than is required and all the information that our clients provide, is held in the strictest of confidence. Ordinarily, these checks simply involve us confirming your identity and proof of address and then we conduct a simple check on Smart Search. Smart Search is the leading UK online provider of Anti Money Laundering Services, helping businesses comply with the Anti Money Laundering Regulations. For further information please visit www.smartsearch.com If you are buying a property, we will require documentation confirming your source of funds. If you are selling a property, we will require proof of the ownership of the property. If you live abroad or use a corporate structure for ownership of your property, further documentation will be required to identify the individuals who will ultimately benefit from the transaction.

All estate agents in the UK are required to comply with a number of laws designed to prevent illicit funds passing through the UK. These include the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Criminal Finances Act 2017, the Terrorism Act 2006 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. Real estate transactions are seen by the UK Government and crime agencies as posing a particularly significant money laundering threat. As such the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require estate agents to understand and verify exactly who their customers are and have evidence that they have completed KYC checks.

If an estate agent becomes suspicious of a prospective client or existing client’s activities, it has an obligation to report this to National Crime Agency.

Your information will be used for the sole purpose of completing our KYC checks in order to meet our legal obligations. Your information will be held confidentially and will not be shared with any third parties outside of the The Country House Department Limited, unless we are required to in order to comply with a regulator or law enforcement authorities.

In the event of an inspection/investigation by the regulator or law enforcement authorities your information will only be shared if requested and to the extent we are obliged to provide it.

Should you wish for us to provide the information that we hold about you to another third party acting on your behalf, or on the other side of a transaction, we would be pleased to do so following a written request.

For the purposes of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, estate agents are regulated by HM Revenue & Customs.Further information can be found on the following sites:

– www.gov.uk/topic/business-tax/money-laundering-reg…
– www.gov.uk/government/consultations/money-launderi…
– www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/crime-threats/money…