A group of the country's leading agents, including Foxtons, have launched a kitemark initiative to raise consumer awareness of the financial risk of using 'uninsured' agents whose behaviour can often tarnish the reputation of the sector. This new kitemark provides a more effective way to communicate to consumers the benefit of using an agent who has Landlord Money Protection.
The Secure Agent Fully Endorsed (SAFE) kitemark initiative was spearheaded by Foxtons and a small group of other leading national estate agents and the simple kitemark means that landlords and tenants can easily identify those agents who are covered by any of the existing Client Money Protection (CMP) schemes. If an agent does not display the new kitemark consumers will recognise that they are potentially at risk.
Although the operators of Client Money Protection Schemes (NALS, ARLA and RICS) for letting agents, have made strenuous efforts to get the message across to consumers that they should choose an agent who offers them financial protection, it has proved difficult to alert consumers to the risk. Often only when it is too late and consumers find that they are not covered, do they realise they should have checked their agent at the outset. Foxtons has been a member of an existing CMP scheme for many years and our client accounting standards have always been extremely high and fully compliant, hence why Foxtons has been so supportive of this scheme.
A large number of industry organisations and consumer groups have all come out in support of the new SAFE kitemark.
The message is simple; no kitemark, no Client Money Protection.
