Why choose a safeagent accredited firm?

Any firm that applies to safeagent must meet our strict criteria.

They must:

• Have in place an insurance policy to pay to rectify mistakes in the unfortunate event that they occur (Professional Indemnity Insurance)
• Operate a client account(s) provided by an FCA authorised bank or building society (Those firms who are part of safeagent as well as  Propertymark, RICS and UKALA provide accounting information to their relevant body to meet their safeagent accreditation criteria)
• Commit to being part of a Client Money Protection Scheme
• Commit to offer services to landlords and tenants meeting all of safeagent Service Standards
• Have a written Customer Complaints Procedure which offers independent redress should any complaint from a landlord or tenant not be resolved in-house

After a firm has been given safeagent status, that’s not the end of the story. We continue to monitor every single firm, to ensure our compliance requirements are being met.

On an ongoing basis firms must supply safeagent with an Accountant’s Report confirming compliance with safeagent Accounting Standards. For firms who sign up to the Scheme and who have been trading for less than a year, they must supply an Interim Accountant’s Report after six months in safeagent, then another, six months after their Financial Year End.

All of those firms registered with safeagent must renew their accreditation annually, and as part of that process they must produce up-to-date evidence of their compliance with our criteria.

In addition to these conditions, safeagent also undertakes random checks on firms’ client accounts, as well as monitoring feedback from the redress schemes operating in the sector on the complaints they deal with about safeagent firms.

All this information is made available to the safeagent Board, enabling them to review and revoke a firm’s safeagent accreditation if deemed necessary.

With such attention and effort invested in qualifying safeagent firms, it’s easy to see why more and more people are choosing to rely on safeagent as the most effective and trusted accreditation of its kind.