In March 2025, police across England took part in Operation Machinize, cracking down on suspected money laundering operations and high street crime. The National Crime Agency (NCA) targeted 265 barbershops and other cash-heavy businesses, resulting in: 35 arrests, 84 warrants executed, 97 individuals safeguarded in relation to potential modern slavery, £40k+ in cash seized, two cannabis farms found, freezing orders secured over bank accounts totalling more than £1m and 10 shops shut, with further closures expected.

Operation Machinize highlights the extent to which property is being exploited to conduct organised financial crime. Be that a commercial property, such as a car wash, vape shop or nail bar operating on cash payments to disguise dirty money amongst the flow of clean money; a residential property bought with dirty money and then either rented out or sold; or instances where criminals use a property for both residential and commercial purposes with a cash-intensive business on the bottom floor and residential lets above.

The sheer scale of money flowing through these scenarios, plus the numerous parties involved, can make it difficult for letting agents and regulators to monitor the legitimacy of all payments being made.

Estate and letting agents are obligated by regulators to carry out rigorous Customer Due Diligence (CDD) when verifying the identity of those looking to buy, rent out or lease these properties. But, with most firms continuing to carry out the CDD process manually, there is much room for error. Passports and other documents can be easily forged and someone either conducting crime or intending to gain a property to do so will be well versed in how to conceal themselves.