The latest Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Annual Report 2024–25 from the UK Financial Intelligence Unit shows a widening gap in financial crime reporting between the property and legal sectors.

Estate and letting agents submitted 890 SARs during the year, down 14.8% from 1,044 in 2023–24. In contrast, the legal sector increased its reporting from 2,419 to 3,392 — a rise of around 40%.

As a result, legal professionals now file almost four times as many SARs as property agents, compared with just over twice as many the year before, highlighting a growing divergence in detection and reporting activity.

Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) requests tell a similar story, with the legal sector submitting nearly three times more DAMLs than the property sector in 2024-25 (1,336 vs 454).

While the UKFIU notes that a transition to a new reporting portal may affect year-on-year comparability, the scale of the divergence, and the fact that the legal sector managed a substantial increase during the same period, suggests the decline in property sector reporting reflects a genuine detection gap.

Neil Williams, CTO at Credas Technologies, commented: “This data should be a wake-up call for the property sector. After years of gradual improvement, we’re now moving in the wrong direction. The legal sector has shown a 40% increase in reporting during the same period – proving that practitioners can adapt to new systems whilst maintaining vigilance. The property sector’s decline suggests agents are either missing red flags or failing to report them.”

The findings are particularly concerning given that property transactions remain a known target for money laundering activity, accordong to Credas Technologies.

Lower SAR volumes are unlikely to indicate reduced criminal activity – instead, they point to potential gaps in detection and compliance processes.

Credas argues that digital identity verification and reusable compliance checks – such as digital wallets – could help address these detection gaps by streamlining KYC and AML processes, making it easier for agents to identify and report suspicious activity whilst reducing administrative burden.

“Estate agents are operating in an increasingly complex risk environment, but many are still relying on manual, paper-based compliance processes that make it difficult to spot patterns or anomalies,” Williams added.

“Digital wallets and automated verification tools don’t just make compliance more efficient – they make it more effective,” he continued. “When identity verification is standardised and digital, red flags become easier to identify and report. The property sector needs to embrace these technologies, not just to meet regulatory obligations, but to genuinely protect the market from exploitation.”