PropTech may help agents overcome client account crisis - claim

The Guild of Property Professionals says PropTech may be the answer to the ongoing problem with client accounts.

Since 2019 many banks have contacted letting agencies, saying their undesignated client accounts would have to be closed. The agents are typically faced with replacing the accounts with individual designated ones - time-consuming and laden with red tape - or shifting their business to banks not requiring designated accounts.

The banks’ crackdown has come after the requirement that any lettings or management business handling clients’ money must be part of an approved Client Money Protection scheme in order to operate, and tightening up of Anti-Money Laundering regulations.

But now - in the Guild’s podcast called The Home Stretch, the trade body’s chief executive Iain McKenzie speaks with Matt Gibbard from LettsPay, an automated client accounting service for reconciling tenant rental payments and compliance requirements. 

McKenzie says in the podcast that PropTech platforms such as LettsPay are revolutionising the market and suggests a number of tech firms are finding ways around the inflexibility of the banks since the introduction of the latest Client Money Protection regulations.

Gibbard notes that a state-of-the-art rental collection platform will help letting agents save valuable time while ensuring they remain compliant with CMP and AML regulations. 

During the podcast, McKenzie and Gibbard discuss various other aspects around client accounts and how platforms can help agents manage their lettings portfolios, deal with the required legislative requirements and save time, while remaining compliant.

To hear this conversation in full, visit The Home Stretch podcast.