Guide · Real estate agencies
AML checklist for estate agents (EU baseline)
Real estate is one of the clearest anti-money-laundering obliged sectors in the EU, with essentially no sector exemption. This guide sets out what triggers the duty, who you need to identify, what beneficial ownership means for a company-owned property, and where this becomes one step in your existing intake process rather than a separate form.
- Real estate agents are AML-obliged with no sector carve-out
- Identify both seller and buyer, not just whichever side pays your fee
- Company-owned property means checking the beneficial owner too
Why is real estate one of the clearest AML-obliged sectors, with no exemptions?
Property is one of the most established routes for laundering money: a large sum moves in one transaction, the asset itself can be resold, and ownership can be layered through companies and trusts to obscure who actually controls it. EU anti-money-laundering law reflects this by naming real estate agents and developers as obliged entities without the kind of sector carve-out that applies to, for example, non-life insurance intermediaries. Whether you handle a sale, a letting, or both, the obligation applies to your agency as a matter of course, not as an exception that depends on transaction size or client type.
What triggers the duty: is it every listing, or only once there's a buyer?
The duty is generally tied to the transaction, not the listing itself: due diligence applies once you are acting for a party in relation to a specific sale or letting, rather than the moment a property is simply put on the market with no interested party yet. In practice this means the check happens as part of taking on a serious buyer or tenant, or a seller instructing you to market their property, rather than as a background check on everyone who ever emails about a listing. Exact national timing rules vary, so check your own country's guide for precisely when the clock starts.
Who do you need to identify: seller, buyer, or both?
Both. Real estate agents typically have due-diligence duties toward both the party they act for directly and the counterparty to the transaction, since a laundering scheme can sit on either side, a seller cashing out illicit funds through a property sale, or a buyer using one to place them. Some national rules place a heavier documentation duty on whichever side you formally represent, but treating identification as a two-sided requirement, rather than only checking your own instructing client, is the safer default and matches how most EU member states have implemented the obligation.
What is beneficial ownership identification for a company-owned property?
When a company buys, sells, or lets a property, the due-diligence duty extends past the company's registered name to the natural person or people who ultimately own or control it. In practice this means asking for the company's beneficial ownership information, cross-checking it against a public or restricted register where one exists in the relevant country, and keeping that evidence with the file for the transaction. A property held through a chain of holding companies, possibly across more than one country, needs more work to trace than a straightforward local company, and that extra work is exactly the situation the rule exists for.
What cash-transaction thresholds should make you look twice?
EU anti-money-laundering law generally restricts and closely scrutinises large cash payments in property transactions, since cash is the hardest payment method to trace back to its source. Exact cash thresholds and reporting triggers are set at national level rather than harmonised at a single EU figure for real estate specifically, so the number that matters is the one your own country sets, not a general EU rule. As a practical matter, any request to pay a meaningful part of a property price in cash, rather than through a traceable bank transfer, is a reasonable trigger to ask more questions and document the answer, regardless of the exact legal threshold.
How this becomes one intake step instead of a separate compliance form
The workable version of this checklist is a single step at the start of instructing an agency: collect identity details for both seller and buyer, beneficial ownership information where either party is a company, and run a sanctions and PEP screening check before the transaction proceeds to contract. Building it into the same intake link as the mandate itself means the due-diligence record and the transaction paperwork stay together automatically, instead of a compliance file kept separately from the actual sale documents.
In Braigest
One link for the mandate and the AML check
A Braigest workflow can collect seller and buyer identity, run KYB for a company-owned property, and screen both parties before the sale documents are signed. Available from the Practice plan at €149/month.
Frequently asked questions
Do letting agents have the same AML duties as sales agents?
Real estate agents and developers are obliged entities without a distinction between sales and lettings in the EU framework, though exact national rules on timing and thresholds can differ, so check your own country's implementation.
Is there an exemption for low-value property transactions?
The EU baseline does not set a general value exemption for real estate the way it does for occasional financial transactions elsewhere. Check your national rules for any specific thresholds that apply.
Who counts as the beneficial owner when a foreign company buys a property?
The natural person or people who ultimately own or control the company, wherever it is incorporated. Tracing this can take more work across borders, and a restricted or public register in the company's home country is the usual starting point.
Can one agent handle both the seller's and the buyer's due diligence?
Yes, and doing so in one flow is common practice, but check your own country's rules on any documentation duties that differ depending on which party you formally represent.
Explore more of the platform
Ready to fix your onboarding?
See the whole flow in a 30-minute call, or explore the full Braigest platform.