EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation 2027: What Agents Need to Change by July

If you are selling an apartment in Thessaloniki or Cologne today, you are still working under national legislation when it comes to money laundering. That will change in summer 2027. From then on, an EU regulation will set the same basic rules in every member state. Small agencies have just over eight months until then. That is enough time if you start now rather than in June.

This article provides a practical overview and does not replace legal advice. For specific questions, the right people to contact are your competent supervisory authority, your chamber or professional association and, if in doubt, a lawyer.

What changes legally

The Anti-Money Laundering Regulation, or AMLR for short, is Regulation (EU) 2024/1624. It is part of a larger EU package that also includes a new Anti-Money Laundering Directive and the new European supervisory authority, AMLA. For day-to-day office work, the regulation is what matters most. It was published in the Official Journal on 19 June 2024, has been in force since 9 July 2024 and applies from 10 July 2027. The current directive will be repealed on the same date.

The difference from a directive is significant. A regulation does not need to be transposed into national law first; it applies directly. For Cyprus, for example, the advisory firm CX Financia expressly points out that no separate implementing law is needed. Member states may nevertheless retain stricter rules of their own in certain areas. This will be particularly relevant for cash.

In Germany, the Money Laundering Act (GwG) continues to apply until 10 July 2027. According to an article on anwalt.de, transactions from before that date will be assessed under the old law. A purchase agreement brokered in spring 2027 will therefore still fall under the GwG.

Austrian agents should check with their supervisory authority or chamber in good time which national requirements will remain in place alongside the AMLR. The regulation does not apply in Switzerland, but Swiss agencies with partners in the EU will feel the effects of the new processes there.

Who will be covered

A property developer who sells the apartments in its own new build does not necessarily see itself as an estate agent. Under the anti-money laundering rules, that may soon make no difference. In an information sheet, the Düsseldorf District Government makes clear that from 10 July 2027 the obligations apply to all property intermediaries, regardless of what they call themselves or what their main profession is. In some circumstances, developers may also be covered.

This has consequences for working with developers or partner agencies. If you are marketing a property jointly, you should agree in advance who will carry out which checks. An obligation cannot simply be passed on to the other party by tacit assumption.

Sales, lettings and timing of checks

According to the Düsseldorf District Government, due diligence obligations always apply to sales. For lettings, they only apply from a monthly rent of €10,000, regardless of the method of payment. A two-bedroom apartment at €900 a month is therefore not affected. A penthouse floor in a prime location or a larger commercial unit, on the other hand, may reach the threshold.

More relevant in practice is the question of when checks must be carried out. Not every prospective buyer who asks for a property brochure has to show their ID. According to Recital 56 of the AMLR, agency services become relevant as soon as it is clear that the parties intend to buy, sell or rent, or are making preparations to do so.

In practice, this is often the point at which a prospective buyer asks to reserve the property after a second viewing, or asks about a notary appointment. Identification should be part of the process by then at the latest. A common mistake is to put it off until shortly before notarisation. If documents are missing at that stage, the agency is under time pressure, and the conversation with the client becomes awkward.

You should agree with your supervisory authority or professional association how exactly to divide the checks between the seller's and the buyer's side. The regulation sets the framework; how it is interpreted in detail will become clear over the coming months.

When a company buys

Foreign buyers sometimes purchase holiday apartments in Cyprus or Spain through a company. In that case, you must identify the beneficial owners, and this is precisely where the AMLR shifts the threshold. In future, a beneficial owner is anyone holding 25 per cent or more. Until now, the threshold was more than 25 per cent. Under the old standard, a limited company with four shareholders each holding a quarter may not have had a single beneficial owner by virtue of shareholding. In future, all four must be recorded.

According to Shufti Pro's compliance guide, ownership and control will also be assessed independently of each other. Someone who holds a smaller stake but actually exercises control through voting rights or agreements may still be a beneficial owner. For your form, this means a simple "Shareholders over 25%" field is no longer sufficient. Ask about holdings of 25 per cent or more, and separately about any other form of control.

Cash in property transactions

From 10 July 2027, under Art. 80 AMLR, traders and service providers may no longer accept or make cash payments above €10,000. This also applies if the amount is split into linked instalments. According to the platform geldwaeschebeauftragter.com, exactly €10,000 is still permitted. However, due diligence obligations may already apply to cash transactions from €3,000.

The €10,000 figure is an EU-wide maximum; stricter national limits may remain in place. According to kycnow, Greece only allows cash payments up to €500. According to the European Consumer Centre Germany (EVZ), the limit in Spain for payments to businesses is generally €1,000. Older overviews also list a national limit for Bulgaria, but these date from before the country adopted the euro. You should check the current situation with the competent supervisory authority or your professional association.

According to the EVZ, Germany currently has no general cash limit, but under Section 16a GwG it does have a ban on cash payments specifically for property transactions. In onOffice's assessment, the new EU limit does not simply override this rule. Which national requirements will apply in addition from 2027 needs to be checked separately.

The simplest approach is to handle all payments that go through your agency without cash, such as reservation fees and commission. You can advise buyers early on to pay the purchase price by non-cash means as well. How the purchase price is paid varies from country to country, sometimes via the notary, sometimes via an escrow account. Clients from countries where larger cash payments are common may not expect this. A clear sentence in the reservation agreement will save discussions later.

Record retention and data protection

Under Art. 77 AMLR, from July 2027 records must be kept for five years after the end of the business relationship. For a one-off sale, that end point is likely to be close to completion. For a landlord who entrusts you with apartments repeatedly over several years, it is less clear-cut. If in doubt, clarify this with your supervisory authority, and consult your data protection adviser on retention periods from a data protection perspective.

These records usually include the ID copy, which is also a particularly sensitive document. A copy sitting as a PDF in a staff member's email inbox is poorly stored, as is a pile of paper next to the printer. A fixed storage location is better, either digitally in a protected folder or physically in a lockable cabinet, accessible only to designated people. Note in the contact record when the retention period ends. That way, you can decide specifically what can be deleted or destroyed afterwards.

If you outsource identification to an external service provider, such as an online ID verification provider, you remain fully responsible under Art. 18(2) AMLR. Your contract with the provider should therefore specify where the data is stored and how you can access the evidence in the event of an inspection.

Checklist for the changeover

These points should be completed by July 2027:

• Update customer and beneficial owner forms to reflect the 25 per cent rule and the separate question on control
• Define at which step in the sales process identification takes place
• Appoint a responsible person in the office, even if there are only two staff members
• Set rules for storing and accessing ID copies, and note when retention periods end
• Add information on payment methods to the reservation agreement
• Give the team a brief training session, ideally using a real, anonymised case
• Find out who your contacts are at the competent supervisory authority and your professional association

Where to start this week

Take the last purchase agreement your agency brokered and run through it under the new rules. When would you have carried out the checks, and were all the documents in one place? If a company was the buyer, also check whether your records identify the beneficial owners according to the new threshold. This single run-through will usually show you where the gaps are faster than any information sheet. Afterwards, clarify any open points with your supervisory authority or professional association, and detailed legal questions with a lawyer.

If you use ImotDesk, you can record the date of the check, the type of evidence and the end of the retention period in the notes for the contact or property. That way, it is easy to trace later who was checked and when.