Money Laundering Regulations

Money Laundering Regulations

Compliance with money laundering obligations is one of the greatest challenges for solicitors in the UK today. The Law Society is committed to assisting solicitors meet those obligations and provides a robust defence against money launderers attempting to abuse our professional services.

It is imperative to take a risk-based approach to compliance. Inappropriate or non-existing procedures for client screening will constitute a breach of the regulations.

At PLS Solicitors all our property solicitors are familiar with the substantive criminal law relating to money laundering and the requirements under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007. Failure to comply with the Regulations when required to do so is a criminal offence.

Most firms are required to have a money laundering nominated (or reporting) officer in accordance with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007. When any of our property solicitors enter into a business relationship with you we are required to satisfy these regulations by obtaining evidence of your identity.

ID should be provided at the beginning of a transaction to carry out the necessary property searches.

The ID which we require here at PLS Solicitors forms two parts.

1. Name Confirmation
2. Address Confirmation

Name Confirmation is usually in the form of photo ID either your passport or Driving Licence.

Address confirmation can be a utility bill or bank statement which shows your name and address

Under recent Money Laundering Regulations, we are required by law to ascertain not only the identity of our clients but also the source of the money that we receive in respect of any matter.

Our search provider which our residential conveyancing lawyers use here at PLS Solicitors is "SearchFlow" they are an electronic conveyancing search service and the UK's leading property search provider.