Client money and CMP for letting agents

What client money is

Client money is money you hold for someone else: rent collected for a landlord, a tenant's deposit, or a float for repairs. It belongs to your clients, not to the agency, and must never pay the agency's own bills.

What the law asks of letting agents in England

• Client money protection (CMP): if you hold client money, you must belong to a government-approved CMP scheme. Show your certificate in each office and on your website, give a copy to anyone who asks, and tell your clients within 14 days if your membership changes or ends. Councils can fine an agent up to £30,000 for not belonging to a scheme.
• A separate client account: hold client money in a client account at a bank or building society, apart from the agency's own money. Schemes expect the account to be named as a client account and the bank to confirm that in writing.
• Redress: every letting agent must belong to a government-approved redress scheme (The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme), whether or not it holds client money. The fine for not belonging is up to £5,000.
• Publish your details: show your fees, your redress scheme and whether you belong to a CMP scheme in your offices and on your website.

Wales and Scotland have their own rules (Rent Smart Wales and the Scottish Letting Agent Register). Check your scheme's rules too: they can ask for more than the law does. This guide is general information, not legal advice.

Reconciling the client account

Reconciling means checking that the bank balance of the client account matches what your ledger says you hold for each client. Most schemes expect this at least once a month. Look into every difference, write down what caused it and how you fixed it, and never let a client's balance go below zero.

How Tendmere helps

• Client money (under Clients and money) keeps client money and office money apart, with the ledger and the money held for each client.
• Trust reconciliation: enter the statement balance for a date. Tendmere compares it with the ledger and marks the day matched, different, reviewed or missing. Add a note when you review a difference.
• CMP checks: a report built from your separate accounts, ledger balances, reconciliation differences, fees waiting to be split and landlord payments due. Save a copy with a note to keep as evidence.
• Agency compliance centre: record your CMP and redress memberships and your branch and website checks.
• Landlord payments: build a payment run and mark each payment paid; the payment is written to the ledger.
• Deposit tracking: record protection within 30 days and when the prescribed information was given.

Tendmere keeps the records. It does not hold or move money: payments are made from your own bank.

Who can see it

Client money is part of agency workspaces. The owner, and managers with finance access to the whole workspace, see the reconciliation and CMP checks. Staff limited to one branch do not see the account-wide checks. Landlord clients see their own statements, not the client account.