The National Crime Agency (NCA) has said that the UK housing market has been distorted as a result of hundreds of foreign criminals laundering money using the UK property market.
The NCA says that overseas criminals are laundering billions of pounds through by purchasing expensive properties in the UK, which has in turn pushed up property prices across the country.
The NCA’s economic crime command director Donald Toon told The Times that London prices had been “skewed” as a result of overseas investment by criminals who wanted to sequester their assets in the UK.
Mr Toon is urging estate agents to report any suspicions to the police.
He added that he was “alarmed” by the number of homes registered to complex offshore corporations, some of which would have been bought with laundered money.
Many offshore landlords are also impossible to trace because the landlord is frequently a nominal offshore company with a managing agent the only point of contact.
This can make it more difficult for leaseholder owners or rental tenants to tackle landlord and tenant issues such as disrepair or breaches of a lease or tenancy agreement, or take a landlord to court.
The Times has revealed that the Treasury has earned £150 million in the last three months from a tax on properties bought by companies, trusts and investment funds, rather than individuals.
The figures support Mr Toon's claims, says The Times.
When the tax was first introduced in 2013/14, a total of £100m was raised from 3,990 houses – and 80% of the revenue came from two London boroughs, the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
Mr Toon said:
“I believe the London property market has been skewed by laundered money – prices of high-end property are being artificially driven up by the desire of overseas criminals to sequester their assets here in the UK.
"What they are doing is distorting the market.”
He added that if estate agents had a suspicion that there may be money laundering involved, “then they absolutely should be submitting a suspicious activity report”.
“You are at risk of committing a criminal offence if you do not do that,” Mr Toon warned.
The NCA says that hundreds of billions of pounds are now laundered in the City of London every year – and NCA investigations are intensifying to try and stop the practice.
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Foreign criminals are laundering billions of pounds through the purchase of expensive properties, which is pushing up house prices in the UK, the National Crime Agency has said.
Its economic crime command director, Donald Toon, told the Times that London prices had been "skewed" as a result.
He said prices were being artificially driven up by criminals "who want to sequester their assets here in the UK".
Mr Toon urged estate agents to report any suspicious activity.
The newspaper reported that Mr Toon said he was "alarmed" by the number of homes registered to complex offshore corporations - some of which will have been bought with laundered money.
The Treasury has earned £150m in the past three months from a tax on properties purchased by companies, trusts and investment funds, rather than individuals - supporting Mr Toon's claim, the Times said.
When the tax was first in operation in 2013/14, it raised £100m from 3,990 houses, with 80% of the revenue coming from two London boroughs - the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, it said.
'Distorting the market'
Mr Toon said: "I believe the London property market has been skewed by laundered money."
He added: "Prices of high-end property are being artificially driven up by the desire of overseas criminals to sequester their assets here in the UK.
"What they are doing is distorting the market.
"If [estate agents] have a suspicion that there may be money laundering involved, then they absolutely should be submitting a suspicious activity report.
"You are at risk of committing a criminal offence if you do not do that."
Hundreds of billions of pounds are laundered in the City every year, according to the NCA, and it said investigations were intensifying.