Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the number, and (2) the overall proportion of, letting and property agents who have not signed up to the client money protection scheme.

My Department has made no specific estimate of the number and the overall proportion of letting and property agents who have not signed up to a Client Money Protection (CMP) scheme.

It is the duty of every local authority in England to enforce the requirement for letting agents and property managers who hold client money to belong to a government-approved CMP scheme. The lead enforcement authority is the National Trading Standards Letting Agency Team (NTSLAT) operated by Bristol City Council. In instances where NTSLAT is made aware of an agent potentially operating without the required CMP scheme membership, cases are referred to the relevant local authority for further investigation. More information on NTSLAT’s activity in this area is available here.