Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many estate agents in (a) England and Wales and (b) London have been penalised for failing to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is unable to provide any information which would identify its customers. The Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 gives HMRC a duty of confidentiality which applies to all information it holds in connection with its functions.

In 2014-15 HMRC issued 677 penalties to the total value of £768,000. This is for all HMRC supervised businesses in the UK. The total includes estate agency businesses which HMRC supervised from 1 April 2014. This is three times the total value of penalties issued in 2013-14.