The government's anti-money laundering regs and overseas register of UK property interests has been dubbed a "joke" by those in the industry. There is almost £40Bn of UK property held by overseas companies not subject to UK tax laws - in fact the figure is much more as that excludes Scotland and Northern Ireland. Significant ownership lies in Jersey, Guernsey and the British Virgin Isles. Meanwhile, because of a c*ck up in the rules around the overseas register, over 70% of UK properties owned by overseas shell companies have failed to publish ownership information as the scheme attended. 

Despite the "big fish" getting away with it, estate and letting agents still have to pester the average home seller and landlord by conducting (arguably) intrusive checks on them when selling or letting out. And what do the government pay agents for carrying out this work? They don't instead they actually charge them to do with a hefty fee every year. That fee and the extra costs in carrying out the work is simply added to fees a client pays.

Here at Key One Property however, we have always tried to keep fees for landlords and home-sellers as fair as possible. Our management fee is just 5% and our sale fee is just 0.5% - both including VAT*. So if you want to sell or let out without paying a fortune, get in touch for a chat.

*subject to min fees, t&cs.