The buying, selling, renting or letting of property is no longer the simple process of yesteryear: gone are the days of a deal sealed with the nod of the head or a simple handshake. In today’s international cyber society, with its borderless banking, hackers, money laundering and corruption, ‘due diligence’ is the new watchword. The responsibility of enforcing due diligence is also no longer the exclusive duty of the bank or the notary but now also required as a step to be undertaken by the estate agent. Douglas Salt, the director of Malta’s Frank Salt Real Estate Group, says: “All parties now have to work together on any given property transaction. Everyone has a legal responsibility, as contained by law, to make sure the whole process from start to finish is a very legal one.”