ECSH53200 - Estate agency businesses providing letting agency business or other supervised sector services
It is not unusual for an estate agency business (EAB) to provide services which would fall within the definition of a letting agency business (LAB), due to the similarity and closeness between the property sales and lettings industries. Many EABs will offer LAB services, but not all will offer rents above the threshold requiring LAB registration. Where the business is acting as both an EAB and a LAB, its registration must reflect this, as must its compliance with The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017).
There are also a number of EABs that offer activities that fall under other supervised sectors, such as ASPs.
In all cases the business' registration for AML supervision must describe all of the relevant activity it conducts, and it must adhere to all of its obligations under MLR 2017.
Where the EAB is providing other activities for which registration is required, you should refer to the sector pages at ECSH50000 for further information.
During a compliance intervention, unless focussed solely on one aspect of the business, an officer should seek to understand all EAB and other HMRC-supervised services (relevant activity) conducted by the business, how it has risk assessed each service alone and in combination, and how it manages and mitigates those risks.
Record testing should span all of the EAB and LAB/other regulated services provided.
Information on general money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risks for EABs can be found at ECSH53125 and general risks for LABs can be found at ECSH55125.
At a compliance visit, EABs providing LAB services should be expected to provide an explanation for any departure from published guidance.
You should also refer to the sections of the handbook relevant to any other sector where the business is conducting relevant activity – see the relevant ECSH50000 chapter.