Updating post from Reddit.
'From tomorrow (14 May 2025)letting agents must check tenants, landlords, and other clients against the UK’s official sanctions list.
If they find or suspect a match, they will be legally required to report it to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and freeze any property or assets.
Tenants or landlords may be on a sanctions list due to: money laundering; terrorist financing; human rights violations; organised crime; as well as political corruption and other national security threats.'
Source: Propertywire.com.
I wasn't aware of this change. My properties are managed by a estate agent.
Are you guys aware of this rule?
Nishma Parekh, Goodlord’s director of referencing, said: “This week is critical for letting agents. New rules around sanctions checks represent a major shift for the industry and it would be very easy for letting agents to unwittingly fall foul of them.
“Every single landlord and tenant, no matter the rental value, must now go through sanctions checks.
“With four in five landlords feeling unprepared for the changes, it’s vital that they get their ducks in a row immediately if they want to stay on the right side of the law. If they fail to comply – even if it’s a genuine mistake – they could be facing unfathomable fines of up to £1m."
What do you guys think?
So is this just letting agents and not landlords doing it themselves? I would bet a dodgy landlord on that list will be doing illegal rentals, tax avoidance and cash rentals so would never get caught. Alternatively they might find criminal groups that will become a face for the property and use someone who is not on that list. It's just extra paperwork which takes time and another thing agents will charge landlords and potentially hike rents further.
Landlords are now an enforcement arm of the home office and now the office of financial sanctions.
Like you said this is easy to get around and will not add much value. Anyone on the sanctions list will just use another person as a front. It's not that hard .
More paperwork.
But not for landlords.
It does if you find your own tenants/ do your own referencing.
I think.
Its also worth noting that Goodlord’s are selling a product... It does not seem like a massively onerous task to do this check and document it.
Well the list is on the gov site anyone can input a name and check but we all know this will be a £50 charge by the agents to the landlord.
What I’m reading is that it’s an obligation on letting agents.
It would appear that it is an obligation on the letting agents and not not the LL if they self manage.
So if a tenant is on the sanctions list all they will need to do is rent from a private LL.
This law is a joke. Will not add much value to be honest. People who are on sanction list knows how to get around it.
Yup apologies, I had been misinformed.
It has been known about for some time, its just a case of putting the name they give you into the .gov website and seeing if it returns anything.
Yeah its stupid, its like so many laws these days, seem to be more about being seen to be doing something than actually make a difference .
If you self manage your property,it applies to you .
Edit. It would appear that it is a requirement for the lettings agents and not the LL.
Does it? Please post a link which backs up your statement.
I went back and read it. It seems like it only applies to letting agents.
Therefore if you self manage you do not need to screen your tenants.
I made the edit to my original post.
I've not heard diddly squat about this from my local CC. They send out a landlord newsletter every now and again but nothing on this topic. Even the whole share code and right to rent thing is something that I've learned to do myself. Why aren't councils informing us of changes?
If you self manage you will need to do the checks yourself.
The sanctions list is on the gov website.
My agency is charging £20 per property.
Thanks, I'll take a look.
Having read the rules again it would appear that it doesn't apply if you self manage. It seems like it is an obligation on the letting agents and not self manage properties.
I've had a look at well and the emphasis is definitely on letting agents but GOV UK doesn't make it abundantly clear if it covers self-managing LLs or not. I wish they'd make it clearer.
Has anybody had experience with this already? I’ve been waiting two weeks now for the checks to come back and it doesn’t seem right. Maybe my estate agents are using it as an excuse, I’m not sure anymore…..