Agents must pay another £115 per office per year to the OFT for anti-money laundering registration by 31 January 2010. Those who miss the deadline could face massive fines.

Although estate agency has been subject to the anti money laundering regime for some time, on the pretext of the current economic climate and the greater possibility for fraudulent transactions the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has introduced a new compulsory registration scheme for Estate Agents on 31 July 2009 with a six month timeframe.

This means that agents must register with the OFT before the 31 January 2010 otherwise they will be committing a criminal offence.

Commercial and residential agents are affected as well as relocation agents and property finding agents. The registration policy does not apply to those doing letting work alone. The OFT told PROPERTYdrum that it estimates that they have only received around 3000 registrations although, they said, enquiries were now increasing.
After 31 January 2010 date all new estate agency businesses will have to be registered before they can begin to trade.

Agencies that trade without being registered will be in breach of the regulations and may be subject to unlimited civil penalties or prosecution, which can also lead to an unlimited fine.

http://www.oft.gov.uk