ETSOS Round-Up
27th February 2014
Last year was always going to be a big act to follow – significant growth across both the search and agency sides of the business, expansive product development, some key new partnerships – but we’re determined that 2014 will be the best yet.
We’ve got off to the best possible start, with fresh talent and resource coming into the sales team ahead of what we’re anticipating to be a strong upward curve in the property market. Susan Lawrence has joined as a business development manager (BDM), focusing on law firms across the Midlands, South and South West; Julia Kilby joins to focus her efforts on East Anglia; while the South East gets the dedicated efforts of fellow BDM, Sharon Kelly.
We are thrilled to announce we have been awarded the Legal Eye Quality Standard. We have been subjected to a rigorous investigation of our internal policies, processes and procedures which in turn support our efforts to help firms alleviate the compliance burden. You can read more in our press release.
But it’s not just about new people and kitemarks, but new products too. You can read about it in more detail elsewhere in this newsletter but we couldn’t let any round-up go without mentioning the launch of our next generation ordering platform for the commercial property sector. It’s been much vaunted and has taken a huge effort from everyone to deliver something truly ground-breaking – but it’s here at last and we’re delighted with the response we’ve received to date.
JET Convey also needs an honourable mention as it’s yet another handy tool that we’re making available through the ordering screen that should help simplify the compliance challenge. Check out the press release in the newsletter.
We’ve done people and kitemarks, we’ve name-checked products so it just remains to flag up a new partner. So it’s a warm welcome to Searches UK, who join our roster of regulated (personal) search providers as part of ETSOS’s on-going commitment to give clients as broad a choice of providers and products as possible. Searches UK has impressed us with its consistency of both turnaround and pricing, and with market growth predicted for 2014, their arrival further boosts supply and competition.
Latest news
System Maintenance
Please be aware that we are performing some system maintenance this weekend. We don’t anticipate that this will result in any downtime of our services, but we apologise if it does cause any inconvenience
Government Confirms New Regulations and Qualifications for Estate Agents Will Happen
The government has accepted the proposals of the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) with wide-spread consequences for estate and letting agents.
The proposals reach right into the heart of the industry to affect regulation, training and licensing.
(more…)
Fears of Tougher Regulations and Unjust Costs Mount Ahead of Government Announcement
Estate Agents are waiting for the big reveal on Monday after Lord Best has admitted some firms could close when the regulation of property agents (ROPA) makes its recommendations to the Government early next week.
Lord Best, the chair of ROPA, has already outlined the working group’s desire for more regulation.
[NEWSFLASH] Agent Charged DOUBLE Over AML Registration Mistake
Property Industry Eye (PIE) has highlighted the case of an estate agent who has fallen foul of HMRC and been charged double.
On 4th April, with plenty of time to spare, Hayman-Joyce renewed their annual HMRC registration. They paid the fee and thought they’d ticked all the boxes.
Compliance in a Box: The Natural Remedy for Your AML Headache
Estate agents around the country are realising that the new 5th AML Directive goes deep. There’s a lot of work involved in becoming compliant. And the penalties for non-compliance, either deliberately or through confusion, are severe. (more…)


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- What now for the agency industry as Boris Johnson takes over? https://t.co/KUJc0V2EEn
- Fears of Tougher Regulations and Unjust Costs Mount Ahead of Government Announcement https://t.co/N8VDGWNuC2 https://t.co/giZNcR88pH
- We're always talking to agents about reducing RISK with KYC (Know Your Customer) Due Diligence...but what about con… https://t.co/ePdHELsgKp
- Want to make sure you're ticking all the right boxes for your AML compliance? Click the link below and for our *FRE… https://t.co/3bjcIPFf2y
- Estate Agents, Compliance and the Beautiful Game https://t.co/1QwL5YQMit https://t.co/xawZnlv38L
- What now for the agency industry as Boris Johnson takes over? https://t.co/OUBAikhCTw
- More change on the horizon for agents! Seems to be a real split of opinions on this one. #estateagents… https://t.co/RhWLtkEbJQ
- We're always talking to agents about reducing RISK with KYC (Know Your Customer) Due Diligence...but what about con… https://t.co/CdzfWVEpXy
- Want to make sure you're ticking all the right boxes for your AML compliance? Click the link below for our *FREE* 1… https://t.co/j5SnrJMFcS
- MI5 spies 'at breaking point' as they face threats https://t.co/SBGS2Wsi2k via @MailOnline. Security Minister Ben W… https://t.co/WwEKnKIpN5