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Nation follows North East in anti-fraud battle

GUIDELINES drawn up by a North East accountancy firm to help stamp out money laundering and fraud in the housing market are to be rolled out nationally.

Newcastle-based Tait Walker has drawn up the guidelines which are expected to have a national impact on the social and private housing sector.

Tait Walker’s anti-money laundering specialist, Steve Mackle, has developed detailed guidance for the National Housing Federation (Federation), to tackle the issue of money laundering within the social housing sector in the UK.

The federation has now adopted the guidance and will this week and will roll out roll it out to its 1,200 members in England.

Criminals are increasingly exploiting the fact that many housing associations have few procedures in place and generally their employees are not sufficiently trained to recognise and report suspicions of money laundering and fraud.

Speaking on behalf of the Federation, finance policy leader, Joseph Carr, said: “The Federation was aware of the issue of money laundering within the sector and had researched the potential problem and likelihood of occurrence.

Mr Mackle said: “Presently, social housing providers are building and managing vast numbers of homes throughout the United Kingdom and that number will increase. In particular those who enter into shared-ownership schemes now find themselves legally obliged to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.

“There are also significant issues related to housing management such as tenancy fraud and criminal misuse of properties for cannabis farms, people trafficking and other criminal activities.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .