In November last year the government commenced a consultation ‘seeking views on the implementation of mandatory membership of a client money protection scheme for property agents.’
On 26th February 2018 the government brought into force the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (Commencement No 7 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2018. The commencement of these Regulations brings the government one step closer to implementing the mandatory membership of a Client Money Protection (CMP) scheme for property agents. Our previous post can be read here.
Specifically, the Regulations brings into force the power for the Secretary of State to by further regulations:
– require a property agent to be a member of an approved CMP scheme;
– approve or designate a CMP scheme similar to the deposit protection schemes; and
– make provisions for the enforcement of the CMP scheme regulation.
It is of course important to note that these Regulations have not brought into force the mandatory requirement for agents to become members of a CMP scheme. Only the Secretary of State’s power to bring in further regulations has been commenced. However, what is important to note is that this power commences on 19th March 2018 rather than the usual date for legislation which is 6th April 2018.
It is therefore pretty likely that the Secretary of State will make the further regulations which bring into force the mandatory membership of a CMP scheme on 6th April 2018 or in October 2018. Whatever the date may be, we do expect there to be a transition phase to help agents comply with any new regulation, but it is to be expected that the requirement will be in force this year.
