If you’re getting sweaty palms, don’t worry. You’re not the only one.

‍Recent data shows 27% of letting agents express ‘significant anxiety’ regarding the effectiveness of their current compliance procedures, while 43% list ‘regulatory compliance challenges’ as a ‘real concern’. 

It doesn’t have to be this way, though. Here are a few ways you can make sure you stay confident in your compliance, year round.

Don’t get lost in compliance… keep an audit trail as you go 

One of the best ways to tighten up your letting agency’s compliance is to keep a comprehensive paper trail of the compliance tasks you carry out. 

This can be tricky if you’re a busy team, potentially working across multiple branches, without a standardised process. If some of your agents keep paper records, for example, these are likely to get misplaced, which is one more stress you don’t need.

Let’s face it, one of the most painful parts of compliance often comes from not knowing where (or if) the necessary evidence has been stored – and no one likes trawling through spreadsheets or client emails to try and track it down.

So, choosing a tech solution that allows you to log exactly who completed a check, when it was completed, and attach the necessary evidence, can go a long way to take the pain out of compliance. 

‍Street.co.uk’s Right to Rent workflow, for example, comes with a built-in digital paper trail, with mandatory fields for the date you completed the check, your name and the type of document checked. You’ll also be prompted to upload a copy of the document, which will be securely stored in the cloud as evidence you did your due diligence, should regulators come knocking. 

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Choose a CRM that has peace of mind, built in

It’s no secret that letting agents are pretty time-poor, and known for spinning many plates.

With an ever-growing to-do list – and ever-evolving regulations for agents to comply with – it can be all too easy to let compliance slip through the net. What’s more, with time pressure from landlords to let their properties quickly, compliance might feel like a hindrance rather than a necessity.

Choosing a CRM that builds compliance into your everyday workflows can help – so compliance is a no-brainer, not an afterthought. 

Street.co.uk comes with built-in compliance failsafes, to make sure you’ve ticked every compliance box. 

For example, when you create a tenancy in Street.co.uk, you’ll be prompted to confirm you’ve completed a Right to Rent check before you can go any further, completely eliminating the risk of any non-compliant tenancies going forward.

Street.co.uk also has you covered when it comes to creating compliant property listings, with automated, customisable Property Information Questionnaires, sent directly to your landlord to complete in the Landlord app. To help guide you through Material Information regulations, Street.co.uk’s PIQ comes with pre-populated questions, signposted with which part (A, B or C) they capture.

Keeping tabs of when multiple tenancies’ checks expire can be a mammoth task, especially for growing multi-branch letting agents. That’s why Street.co.uk automatically flags when checks like Right to Rent, or certificates like EPC, Electric or Gas Safety, are due to expire. Think of it like your agency’s digital compliance assistant, giving you peace of mind, without the admin burden.

Put a future-proof client accounting process in place

We know. This is a big one.

Client accounting is arguably the most heavily regulated area of your lettings business, and, with hefty fines waiting for those who don’t comply, it quite literally pays to have a solid process in place.

When you’re part of a busy team, in an even busier property market, completing daily manual reconciliations can take up a sizable chunk of your time, and become inaccurate pretty quickly. 

If you’re reconciling your accounts manually via unwieldy spreadsheets, you run the risk of costly errors – not to mention time-consuming double data entry. Putting an efficient, automated process in place means you can future-proof your client accounting as your team grows, without risking compliance blunders.

Non-resident Landlord Tax is another area where letting agents can potentially end up in hot water with the regulators. With fines of up to £900 (plus daily interest) for late payments, it’s key that you correctly calculate the right amount of tax owed, and pay this to HMRC on time. 

Of course, when this is done manually, there’s always the potential for human error, or costly late payments. Not the professional reputation you’d like for your agency.

The good news is that with Street.co.uk, 20% NRL tax will be deducted automatically from payments to your landlord, so you never have to worry about miscalculations or missed payments.

By automating this process with Street CRM, you can be confident that you’ve made the right payments at the right time – every time.

You can find out more about automating your Client Accounting with Street.co.uk here.

Let Street.co.uk keep on top of compliance for you

Research shows that 17% of letting agents listed ‘keeping up with legislative changes’ as their biggest challenge. This isn’t surprising, as in the last year alone, the industry has seen the introduction of Material Information regulations and huge crackdowns on Right to Rent non-compliance fines.

With a CRM like Street.co.uk, you don’t have to. As a team of property industry experts, we keep our ear to the ground to make sure as new legislation comes into play, you have the right tools to keep you compliant and efficient, all within your CRM. 

Street.co.uk offers innovative, time-saving workflows that take the guesswork out of compliance tasks like Right to Rent, Client Accounting and Material Information, and much, much more.

‍Tired of shouldering the compliance burden alone? Speak to a member of our team to start getting confident in your agency’s compliance.

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