The industry has a visibility problem, not a regulation problem.

We published an article in Letting Agent Today recently about the TPO expulsions. It's worth reading in full, but here's the bottom line: the letting industry has a visibility problem, not a regulation problem.

The Problem

Three of the six agents expelled by The Property Ombudsman last week had no valid CMP at the point of expulsion. That's over £16k of client money basically gone, and certainly there is no straightforward recovery route for the affected landlords.

The thing is, that's not because the rules don't exist, it's because nobody identified that cover had lapsed. It's a structural gap the industry has been living with for years.

CMP schemes verify redress membership at onboarding. Redress schemes aren't notified when CMP lapses mid-year. Each body holds part of the compliance picture but none of them see all of it.

In the gap between them, agents can fall out of compliance without it being identified until a landlord is already out of pocket. It's the letting industry equivalent of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. It reflects poorly on the industry.

Our HealthCheck data brings this problem into stark contrast. In the last 12 months, with over 1,000 letting agent reviews completed:

6% of agents self-declared they had no CMP cover at the point of audit 62% of agents were not displaying a valid CMP certificate on their website

This isn't a criticism of TPO, CMP schemes, or any individual body. They are all fulfilling their role, but those roles don't connect.

The Solution

The answer is not more regulation, it's better coordination. One independent annual audit, recognised across redress schemes, CMP providers, deposit schemes, and membership bodies.

One verified compliance position, shared with all relevant parties at the same time. A single source of truth that allows the existing framework to function as intended.

The Letting Partnership HealthCheck already provides this.

It independently verifies CMP status, PI insurance, AML registration, ICO registration, client money handling and deposit compliance and operational best practices within a single annual review.

It is already recognised by Propertymark, Money Shield and Client Money Protect, and we are in active discussions with deposit schemes, government and landlord groups regarding wider adoption.

What Are We Doing About It?

Last week I wrote directly to Andy Chalcers and Lesley Horton of The Property Ombudsman, sharing aggregated insights and setting out the structural case for independent oversight.

We have invited TPO to the table. The same invitation is open to every scheme and membership body in the sector.

Some are already engaging. Others have been slower to move, which is understandable, given these are commercial organisations with their own priorities. Coordinating change across a fragmented industry is not straightforward.

But the cases highlighted this week show what happens when the gap goes unaddressed, and while £16,200 is a relatively small number in the context of a sector transacting billions every year, for the affected landlords it certainly isn't.

The industry already has the frameworks, data and capability to fix this. What it needs is the willingness from schemes to work from the same picture.

Wherever I go I hear about "raising standards in the letting industry". This is what it looks like in practice. We're ready when you are.

Chris Mason Chief Operating Officer, The Letting Partnership