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<p>Landlords and letting agents are free to ask for rent payments upfront if they
wish, but very few ask for 12 months' rent upfront.</p><p>The Government is determined
to ensure that tenants’ rent money held by agents is protected. We will require letting
agents to obtain membership of a Client Money Protection (CMP) scheme and to repay
any client money without delay where it is due to the tenant. We intend this protection
to be mandatory from 1 April 2019.</p><p>We are also developing a new regulatory regime
for letting agents. The Regulation of Property Agents working group, led by Lord Best,
will make recommendations about a joined-up framework to guide, monitor and police
the actions of letting agents. The working group will report in July 2019.</p>
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