Letting Agents once again in the News
September bought Letting Agents once again to the forefront of the news. Geoff Lavery who had a Martin and Co franchise owed close to 100K to landlords and Tenants and it is thought that most of the money being tenants deposits may not have been covered by a tenancy deposit protection scheme. Another agent also owned by Lavery running between May and July also ceased trading. This firm was a member of the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) and is the fifth case where problems relating to tenants' money have been uncovered in the Martin & Co franchise network.
How good is the Letting Agents Regulatory Body?
One can only hope there was client money protection insurance in place for the poor Landlords that will have to contractually repay the tenants their deposit. Martin and Co's CE Ian Wilson was critical of NALS, which he claimed had failed to produce evidence of its client money protection scheme. He also said that NALS had continued to accept Lavery's membership, but had apparently not examined his accounts. He also said that while NALS had suspended Lavery's insurance once alerted, it had failed to put notices in the local Chester press to warn landlords and tenants.
Client Money Protection Insurance SurreyLets is a member of A.R.L.A. To gain membership to A.R.L.A we have to hold Client Money Protection insurance and a valid certificate of this is held by the governing body at all times. In addition to this there is a stringent accounting reporting system in place to ensure the member is following its bye laws that are in place to protect Landlords and Tenants. A.R.L.A are incredibly strict with their members about current valid documentation.
What a prospective Landlord should look for
As a prospective Landlord your agent should be showing you proof of its membership to a Professional Body and evidence that it belongs to The Property Ombudsman - after all, you want to ensure BEFORE a contract starts that there is readdress if you are not happy with the service provided or if you are concerned about the protection of your money.
What deposit scheme should my agent be using? What questions should I as a Landlord be asking?
There are no rules as to which deposit protection company an agent should use. The
DPS is a free service to Landlords and Tenants and Landlords and Tenants can check on line to ensure the deposit is protected. The TDS and mydeposits.com work in a similar way, but these schemes are "Insured" which means the Agent may hold onto the deposit. This is where it is crucial to ensure that the Agent is holding full client money protection insurance because if they don't renew their insurance and hold your money without Client Money Protection, you are putting your money at risk. When monies are sitting in a client account - it only puts temptation in the way if an agent is struggling to pay the bills.
SurreyLets uses the DPS where the money is passed over and held by DPS for the tenancy duration. SurreyLets director Sally Asling believes this demonstrates to the client that there is a degree of transparency as to where the deposit is, and as an agent we are operating best practice in not holding onto deposits longer than necessary as the guideline for dispute are transparently clear"
