Email and instant messaging contact details must be kept up to date for HMRC to contact agents about Anti-Money Laundering supervision.

Propertymark is publicising the fact that HMRC’S systems allow for only one email address to be used so if, for instance, an accountant sets up the application with their email address, they will get the messages and updates instead of the agent.

If there are any staffing changes agents must also remember to update the email address HMRC holds, if that person is no longer part of the business. They suggest using a generic business email address to avoid the need to keep updating it if there are changes.

To update an email address, or any other details relating to supervision, agents should log into their HMRC Anti Money Laundering Supervision account and make the changes there.

To access an agent’s account go to GOV‌.UK and search ‘register or update your Money Laundering Supervision with HMRC’. 

You’ll need the Government Gateway User ID and Password that you used when you registered. If these have been forgotten, they can be reset on the login page.

The terms of the EU’s Fifth Money Laundering Directive – implemented in January 2020 and still applicable in the UK despite Brexit – makes it a legal obligation for every letting agency business that lets property valued at 10,000 euros per month or its equivalent currency (£8,600 a month in the UK) to register with HMRC.