Dirty Money Flooding the Property Market, Says Financial Times
The Financial Times has reported that dirty money is flooding the property market in the UK.
Dirty Money Flooding the Property Market, Says Financial Times
The claims arrive more than two months after Channel 4 aired a programme, From Russia With Cash, allegedly showing estate agents trying to help an evidently dodgy Russian buyer with his London property purchases.
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), whose members are apparently featured in the show, are both investigating the case, but neither body has offered an answer or given a timeframe as to when their studies will be complete.
The Financial Times story states that agent Andrew Langton, of Aylesford International, said: “The bush telegraph is efficient in our business. We are being warned by others who are getting their knuckles rapped.”
The report continues, saying that while many agents believe “there is heightened scrutiny of the market, few believe any crackdown – whether real or threatened – will have an impact on property prices in the UK.”1
Since the Channel 4 show aired, David Cameron has instructed the Land Registry to release a list of properties owned by offshore firms.
However, Private Eye has beaten it, with a searchable map showing properties around Britain that were acquired by offshore companies between 2005 and July 2014.
The magazine used Land Registry data, released under a Freedom of Information request, and then linked over 100,000 Land Registry title entries to specific addresses.
The map shows leasehold and freehold properties and who owns what and where. For example, in Milton Keynes, almost £400m of property is owned by offshore businesses.
See the map here: http://www.private-eye.co.uk/registry
1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/dirty-money-is-flooding-uk-property-market-claim/