National property sales and lettings company DAPS UK has agreed a partnership with anti-money laundering (AML)specialist SmartSearch.

The company, which will shortly be opening its seventh UK office, is the latest property-related business to sign up to the SmartSearch digital customer verification and screening system.

Companies in the property sector which use the SmartSearch platform, include JLL, Winkworth, and Alto, the cloud-based software for agents which is part of Zoopla.

Martin Cheek, managing director at SmartSearch, said: “DAPS UK is the latest property company to sign up to our digital platform, which is now used by over 1,000 estate agents and property-related businesses.

“We are anticipating further partnerships with businesses in the property sector, as in addition to the importance of being fully compliant with regard to anti-money laundering there is now the added pressure of checking for sanctioned companies and individuals following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

DAPS UK – which stands for Darren Anderson Property Services – is headquartered in Birmingham, and also has offices in the Black Country, Manchester, Liverpool, Dorset, and London. It will be opening a seventh office in Manchester South later this month.

Darren Anderson, managing director at DAPS UK, said: “We handle both sales and lettings, and with seven offices the volume of work involved in conducting identity checks was becoming overwhelming so we decided to invest in electronic identity digital verification to simplify the process and give us extra security.

“After researching different providers, we chose SmartSearch because it offers next generation identity verification and security, and gives peace of mind to our landlords.”