Three sets of estate agents were instructed to market a property by people who did not own it.
All three agents apparently took the property on to their books.
In what could have been a major property fraud, the rightful home owner narrowly escaped being dispossessed out of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Squatters took over the empty property and tried to sell it off when Jasmine Fakir moved out of her house in Bacon Lane, Kingsbury, north London, to live with her ill mother in need of round-the-clock care.
The squatters took the opportunity to break into her empty home, ransack her belongings and then put the house on the market through three estate agents, according to Brent Council.
Fortunately, neighbours noticed something amiss and reported it to Brent Council’s empty property hotline.
Property officer Jacqueline Connerky contacted Ms Fakir, and the pair visited the property to find the locks changed.
The police were called and the estate agents told what had happened.
Brent Council then helped Ms Fakir sell the property, apparently via one of the agents using Auction House.
According to records, Auction House had the property listed with a guide price of £350,000 but it sold prior to the June 20 sale.
It was listed as a two-bed semi in shell condition.
Brent Council says the new owners are considering applying for a grant and then renting it out through the authority.
A spokesperson for the council did not name the three agents involved when EYE asked for further information.
Would be interesting to establish what ID checks were carried out by the three estate agents?
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I suspect none, instead a rush to get it on the portals always seems to be the priority.
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How were they planning to exchange and complete?
It would be interesting to see which solicitors they were planning to use.
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1 It is a criminal offence not to undertake client due diligence before opening a file.
2 It is a criminal offence to continue working on a file opened where no client due diligence has been undertaken.
3 It is not that difficult to do-photo id, recent utility bill and bank statements. Then read what has been provided. Does it all match up-ie addresses and names? Does it show this person as having the wealth appropriate to the purported circumstances? Is the bank account an account of convenience with few entries or does it look like an active account?
4 CDD is not only the job of the bank or the Solicitor. It is also the job of the estate agent.
5 Do you keep a record of the CDD process, documents received and considered and a risk assessment? This can be a paper system or a digital system.
6 Even if you outsource CDD, you cannot outsource the assessment of risk or the decision to open a file based upon the risk assessment and results of CDD.
7 Is there a person at Board level/Senior Management who is responsible for and actively involved in AML policy (ie keeping up-to-date on the law and procedures and risks), supervision and training of staff? Do you take it seriously? Is the training and any attempted breaches recorded? Who is the MLRO? Do you report to NCA?
8 HMRC and NCA undertake checks to see if you are complying with the law.
9 Unless you like the idea of a spell in a jail-and they are not holiday camps-you might wish to review your AML policies and procedures and training on Monday.
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Emmersons46
How can you get the client in to enable you to do your CDD if you haven’t actually opened a file
Surely it must be the case that you cannot carry out any work on the file ( other than write to the client and place correspondence received thereon) as opposed to not actually being able to physically open a file
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