Tue 02 Apr 2019

New Legislation to Protect Tenants and Landlords

As of 1st April 2019, all letting agents in England must be registered with a Client Money Protection scheme – (CMP).  There are six CMPs that are government approved; including Client Money Protect, Money Shield, NALS, Propertymark, RICS and UKALA.

Part of the new legislation also requires the letting agents to display which scheme they have signed up to.  Our lettings branch are members of Propertymark (ARLA) and RICS schemes.

The purpose of this government backed scheme is ensure that any landlord or tenant paid money that is held by a letting agent cannot be misappropriated. 

As well as joining a CMP scheme, letting agents are also required to hold client money in a separate bank account.  Additional protection measures include holding appropriate indemnity insurance and establishing money handling procedures.

The potential penalty for not adhering to this new process could be a fine of up to £30,000.  Any agent that is not registered with one of the six schemes is trading illegally.

Oulsnam has always been focused on putting our clients interests first.  Both company directors are chartered surveyors, and, being members of RICS means that we have always been subject to RICS regulation.  This includes inspections to ensure we are compliant with all their rules to protect client money.




Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay