About this form
Form B is where screening results and a risk conclusion are recorded. It is completed for every person screened, not once per transaction — a distinction that accounts for a large share of incomplete files. It is the document that shows you did not merely collect particulars but actually assessed them.
When you need it
- Every transaction that is not an exempt wholly residential HDB rental.
- Once for each person screened: the client, each beneficial owner, and each principal.
- Whenever a new party enters a transaction part-way through.
How to complete it
- Run screening against the TSOFA, UN, FATF and CEA lists, and check for politically exposed person status.
- Capture the evidence — screenshots or reports — rather than recording only the outcome.
- Work through the red-flag checklist and record a genuine risk conclusion. A file where every box is ticked "no risk" without reasoning is not a risk assessment.
- Where the conclusion is higher risk, move to Form C and obtain the Compliance Officer’s prior approval before proceeding.
- Submit the form with its evidence to the agency.
Common mistakes
- Completing one Form B for a transaction rather than one per person screened. This is the single most common error with this form.
- Recording screening outcomes without keeping the evidence.
- Reaching a "low risk" conclusion mechanically, without engaging with the red flags.
- Identifying higher risk and continuing without the Compliance Officer’s prior approval.
Legal basis
Published by CEA as an annex to the Guide on the Estate Agents (Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism) Regulations 2021. Read the issuer’s guidance.
Questions
- How many Form Bs does one transaction need?
- One for every person screened. A corporate client with three beneficial owners and a representative means several, not one.
- What happens if screening returns a match?
- Escalate to the Compliance Officer. Where suspicion arises, it must be escalated within 24 hours and a Suspicious Transaction Report filed — and the person must not be tipped off.
- When must it be completed?
- All due diligence must be complete BEFORE the client enters into any agreement — before an Option to Purchase is issued or exercised, and before a Tenancy Agreement is signed.