RICS Client Money Protection Scheme
RICS’ Client Money Protection (CMP) scheme for property agents has been approved by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). RICS registered firms holding money in the regulated areas will automatically be registered onto the new CMP scheme, without the need for further registration.
Changes to the scheme
In order to gain Government approval, RICS has made a number of changes to the existing CMP arrangements, which will ensure clients are appropriately protected across all surveying services provided by the profession. These changes will take effect from 01 April 2019, and are summarised below:
- The annual aggregate claims limit for all registered firms holding client money will go up from £5.3 million to £10.3 million, regardless of the activity;
- The annual aggregate claims limit for activities falling under the regulations will have an additional aggregate limit of £20 million (bringing the total to £30.3 million in the regulated area);
- Registered firms providing services that come under the regulations will need to display their scheme membership certificates in a prominent place, once they have been issued by RICS; and,
- Registered firms will need to publish a client money handling procedure on their website. Firms may use RICS documents, such as the RICS CMP scheme rules for this purpose.
The scheme rules are available to view here.
For further information on the changes to the RICS CMP scheme, please view our dedicated page for the scheme or contact Regulation at regulation@rics.org.