The Government have announced new measures to make Client Money Protection (CMP) mandatory for all letting agents across England this week, and it’s a victory for the industry!

What is Client Money Protection?

Client Money Protection allows money that landlords and tenants pay their letting agents such as rents, deposits, and service charges to be kept separately from the agent’s operating funds. This means that a claim can be made to the CMP scheme in use by the agent in the rare instance of them going bust, or mishandling the funds in some way.

At Maxine Lester, we look after over £10, 000, 000 of our customers’ assets, and we have protected every penny of the money we hold since the first day our doors opened 12 years ago!

So why is making CMP mandatory such a good thing?

Unfortunately, in an industry that is still largely unregulated – anyone can start up a letting agency without qualifications or a true understanding of what’s required. Professional agents would all have Client Money Protection as standard previously, but there was no guarantee with non-ARLA accredited agents.

This decision levels the playing field between all letting agents and will give all tenants and landlords the peace of mind that their money is protected whichever agent they choose to use.

If you’re in the Huntingdon and St Ives area and would like to discuss Client Money Protection or any other questions you may have about how we make sure we make sure we are always on top of lettings legislation, we have a drop-in clinic this Saturday at our office in St Ives from 10-1 – please pop in and see us!