Client Money Protection
FAQs
What is Client Money
Protection?
Client Money Protection (CMP) is a compensation scheme run by
the Natonal Federation of Property Professionals (NFoPP) which
provides compensation to landlords, tenants and other
clients should an agent misappropriate their rent, deposit or
other client funds.
What are the benefits
to agents?
- Protection of clients' money, giving the
public further trust and confidence in dealing with you, our
members.
- A differentiator setting you apart from
those who do not belong to a professional body and who do not have
CMP in place.
- A discount of up to £3 per tenancy
deposit is offered by the Tenancy Deposit Scheme
(TDS) for those members who have CMP through our scheme. This
discount is not available to all professional bodies /
schemes.
- A discount of 22.5% on the standard rate of
renewal of membership of the Property Ombudsman
Scheme.
Do I have to have it?
It is a mandatory requirement of association membership for
Principal, Partner, Director (PPD) members that they must have CMP
in place for every company that acts as an agency in
property (including the auctioning of chattels), and that handles
client money.
Doesn't my PI cover it?
There is an element of fidelity bonding in professional
indemnity insurance policies, but this only provides you with
protection should your staff misappropriate client funds. Only a
CMP scheme can provide the public with protection should the agent
do so.
Can I shop around for it?
The insurance market does not offer CMP cover to individual
agencies. You can only ensure your clients have this protection
through a compensation scheme similar to our own. Not all schemes
provide the same levels of cover to your clients, nor do they
necessarily qualify you for a discount per tenancy deposit from the
TDS. The only other scheme available which we can accept in lieu of
our own is the one run by the Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors (RICS).
How much is
it?
There is a one-off fee of £180 to join the scheme. For 2012 the
annual levy for each company holding client money was £359. This
was a reduction of £73 on the 2011 levy. In 2013 the annual levy is
£297. This is a reduction of £62 on last year's levy. An
introduction to the 2013 scheme can be found in an open letter from
the MDs of ARLA and the NAEA here.
How do I
pay it?
You can pay in the following ways:
- By BACS transfer. Please use these bank details, and quote our
reference on your Remittance Advice to enable us to trace the
payment.
- By credit/debit card by telephone. Please call 0845 250
6011.
- By cheque. Cheques should be made payable to "National
Federation of Property Professionals" (please include a copy of
your remittance advice), and sent to this address:
Regulation Department
National Federation of Property Professionals
Admail 4230
London
EC1A 1TX
What are
you doing to market CMP to the public?
There is information for the
public about the scheme and about how to make a claim on
the Divisional websites, including a Q&A NAEA CMP
Leaflet or ARLA CMP Leaflet.
There is also a series of pages on the Telegraph website
describing the benefits of using a member.
Help spread the word.
As a membership organisation, we also rely upon our members to
raise public awareness. Why not use the NAEA CMP
Leaflet or ARLA CMP
Leaflet in your promotional material when seeking a new
instruction?
As a professional body, raising standards and providing consumer
protection are key factors; CMP plays an integral part in this.