Estate agents of all sizes have been warned against falling foul of the UK government’s new sanctions against Russia after Vladimir Putin annexed swathes of sovereign Ukrainian territory.

As Putin issues nuclear threats and mobilises hundreds of thousands of reservists, the threat to UK estate agents is closer to home.

Russia imports 67% of its professional and other services from sanctioning countries (with 59% coming from the UK).

HUGE FINES

Bion Behdin (pictured left), Chief Revenue Officer and co-founder at anti-money laundering scaleup First AML, warns estate agents could inadvertently be in breach of UK Sanctions which comes with huge fines and reputational damage.

Behdin told The Neg: “Some 80% of Russia’s auditing and accounting is done outside of Russia. Firms need to make sure that they are doing all their checks. There is a lot of money that gets funnelled into residential real estate. We’ve seen it before where some portfolios have been sold.”

Agents need to make sure that the person at the top of that structure is not a Russian national.”

Behdin says the biggest risk for agents is when they are not dealing with an individual and find themselves dealing with a trust, a company or a complex structure.

“Agents need to make sure that the person at the top of that structure is not a Russian national. It’s as simple as that. Punishment is in line with sanctions punishment so agents could be looking at fines for millions of dollars. Under the new sanctions rules this is super serious.”

TARGETED

Behdin adds that it’s not just large firms that need to be on their guard.

He says: “We see smaller agents targeted as they don’t have as much infrastructure as bigger firms who have capability and capacity to identify when they might be at risk.

“My advice? Keep an eye out from anyone that buys and sells property in a trust or from an overseas company. It might be registered and owned in the UK but who’s at the top? Keep an eye out and remain vigilant.”