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Staying out of Jail

HIAF's members' event on 22 September called 'Staying out of Jail' proved incredibly popular, attracting over 30 delegates.

Sgt Mark Broughton of City of London Police covered the intriguing topic of suspicious activity reports and the wider anti money laundering regime. He was followed by Steve Annis of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) who continued the discussion and also looked at whether or not registered providers need to register with the OFT: the answer was it depends; and you may need to get legal advice. Steve also highlighted the recent NHF guidance on money laundering which he helped prepare.

If your registered provider sells property on behalf of others, or instructs estate agents to do so, then you probably need to look at registering with the OFT. This will mean your association will need anti money laundering procedures and it will need to register with SOCA so it can make suspicion activity reports. Any registered provider can register with SOCA on a voluntary basis. Even if an organisation is not registered with SOCA, fraud reports can now be made through Action Fraud on an individual basis.

Nikki Hermansson of Ernst and Young covered data protection. Registered providers were reminded that subject access requests need to be responded to within 40 days; and that data cannot be edited just because it is embarrassing. We were warned that we are still the data controller when we pass it to third parties, and we might be responsible for the actions of our couriers.

Andy Watson of RSM Tenon looked at the roles of regulators and at how the Tenant Services Authority operated compared to some other regulators and speculated as to what might change in the future.

The 22 September event also included HIAF's annual general meeting which saw HIAF's revised constitution adopted, and the proposed committee changes take place. The accounts audit is still to be completed, and members will be informed when this takes place. Minutes of the AGM are available. Natasha Miles stood down at the meeting and we thank her for all she has done for HIAF over the last couple of years.

We would like to thank all our speakers and also Jephson for their hospitality.

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