In this guide
Letting Agent Compliance Checklist 2026: Branch Duties, Client Files and the RRA
A letting agency in England carries two separate compliance loads. Branch duties are the agency's own obligations: redress scheme membership, client money protection, fee transparency and anti money laundering. Client file duties are the per property obligations operated for landlords, from gas safety to deposit protection. Both are enforced by local authorities, with penalties reaching £40,000.
This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Letting agents should seek independent legal advice for their specific circumstances. It describes the position in England.
Why the two loads should be tracked separately
Branch duties and client file duties fail in different ways and are found by different people, which is why merging them into a single checklist tends to produce blind spots.
Branch duties are static. They apply to the business, they rarely change, and they are checked by Trading Standards, often in sweeps rather than in response to a complaint. A branch either belongs to a redress scheme or it does not.
Client file duties are dynamic. They apply per property and per tenancy, they run on separate renewal cycles, and they surface when something goes wrong: a council inspection, a possession claim, a deposit dispute, or a redress complaint. An agency can be fully compliant at branch level and still have thirty properties with an expired certificate.
Part 1: branch duties
These are the agency's own obligations. Each one is a discrete, checkable state.
| Duty | Statutory source | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Belong to an approved redress scheme for lettings agency work and property management work | The Redress Schemes for Lettings Agency Work and Property Management Work (Requirement to Belong to a Scheme etc.) (England) Order 2014 | Up to £5,000 |
| Belong to an approved client money protection scheme where client money is held | The Client Money Protection Schemes for Property Agents (Requirement to Belong to a Scheme etc.) Regulations 2019, regulation 3 | Up to £30,000 |
| Display and publish the CMP certificate, and notify clients of a change in scheme details | Regulation 4 of the 2019 Regulations | Up to £5,000 per breach |
| Display a list of relevant fees, redress scheme name and CMP scheme name in the office, on the website and on portals | Section 83, Consumer Rights Act 2015 | Up to £5,000 per breach |
| Charge no prohibited payments to tenants | Tenant Fees Act 2019, section 1 and section 2 | Up to £5,000 for a first breach; up to £30,000 or prosecution for a further breach within five years |
Two points are routinely missed. Registering for redress is not enough on its own: the membership category must match the work actually carried out, so an agency doing both lettings and property management needs cover for both. And the three tenancy deposit schemes are not client money protection schemes, a confusion that appears repeatedly in Trading Standards enforcement.
Agencies handling lettings where the monthly rent is at or above the threshold set by the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 also fall within the letting agency business definition and must register with HMRC for supervision. Agencies are advised to confirm their position against current HMRC guidance rather than assume the threshold has not moved.
Part 2: client file duties
These run per property and per tenancy. The legal duty usually sits with the landlord, but on a full management instruction the agent arranges the work, holds the document, serves it, and has to prove all three happened.
| Obligation | Cycle | Statutory source | Maximum penalty on the duty holder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas safety check and record | Every 12 months; record to existing tenants within 28 days and to new tenants before occupation | Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36 | Criminal offence, no fixed cap |
| Electrical Installation Condition Report | At least every five years; copy to tenants within 28 days; remedial work within 28 days | Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 | Up to £40,000 following the increase from 1 November 2025 |
| Energy Performance Certificate at band E or above | Ten year certificate; minimum standard per property | Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 | Up to £5,000 |
| Smoke alarm on every storey with living accommodation, CO alarm in every room with a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker | At the start of each tenancy and on report of a fault | Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 as amended in 2022 | Up to £5,000 |
| Right to Rent check on every adult occupier before the tenancy | Before occupation, plus follow up checks | Immigration Act 2014 | Civil penalty, criminal liability in serious cases |
| Deposit protected in an authorised scheme and prescribed information served | Within 30 days of receipt | Housing Act 2004, sections 213 to 215 | One to three times the deposit, plus a bar on possession |
| Written statement of terms | Within 28 days of the tenancy coming into existence | Section 16D, Housing Act 1988 | Up to £7,000 |
| HMO licence where the property is licensable | Per licence term | Housing Act 2004, Part 2 | Up to £40,000, plus rent repayment order |
The certificate calendar sets out the renewal timings in full, and deposit protection carries the highest consequence per unit of effort, because deposit non compliance now conditions the court's power to make a possession order.
Part 3: what the Renters' Rights Act changed for agents
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 added a third layer that sits between the two loads: exposure for the agency arising from work done on a landlord's behalf.
MHCLG's statutory guidance on civil penalties states that penalties for breaches and offences relating to assured tenancy landlord duties may be imposed on any landlord and any person acting or purporting to act on their behalf who is responsible for the breach or offence. Penalties relating to rental discrimination and rental bidding may likewise be imposed on any prospective landlord and any person acting or purporting to act on their behalf.
Two provisions are particularly relevant to agency workflow:
- Rental bidding. Under section 56 of the Act, marketing a letting without stating the proposed rent, and inviting, encouraging or accepting an offer above the stated rent, are breaches carrying penalties of up to £7,000. The statutory guidance sets starting points of £3,000 and £4,000 respectively.
- Rental discrimination. Under sections 33 and 34, discriminating against prospective tenants because they receive benefits or have children is a breach carrying up to £7,000, with a £3,000 starting point in the guidance and a lower civil standard of proof.
Beyond that, the failure to provide prescribed information to an existing tenant can attract a penalty imposed on the landlord or on a person with whom the landlord has contracted to ensure compliance, under paragraphs 7(2) and 7(3) of Schedule 6. That is a direct route to an agency where the terms of business promised compliance. The question of where liability lands when a certificate lapses is covered separately.
Still to come, and not yet in force: registration on the PRS Database, with a regional rollout expected from late 2026, and the PRS Landlord Ombudsman, which the implementation roadmap places in 2028. Both are landlord facing obligations that agencies will in practice operate. Commencement dates in this area have moved before, so agencies are advised to check the current position rather than plan to a fixed date.
Part 4: the client file audit
A useful client file test is whether a colleague who has never seen the property could answer four questions from the file alone, without asking anyone.
- What is the current status of every certificate, and when does each expire?
- On what date was each document served on the tenant, and by what method?
- Where is the deposit held, when was it protected, and when was the prescribed information served?
- What has the tenant reported, when, and what was done about it?
An agency that can answer all four from the file is in a defensible position with a council, a landlord client, and a redress scheme. An agency relying on the negotiator who set up the tenancy is one resignation away from having no answer at all. Staff turnover is the most common cause of file gaps, and it is the reason proving compliance to a landlord client is now a commercial exercise as much as a regulatory one.
Part 5: the branch review
Branch duties change rarely enough that an annual review is usually sufficient, and often enough that never reviewing them is a mistake. A short standing agenda covers it:
- Redress scheme membership current, and the category matches the work being done
- CMP membership current, cover level matches the maximum client money held, certificate displayed in every office and on the website
- Fee list current, inclusive of VAT, published in office, on website and on every portal
- Tenancy agreement templates checked against the Tenant Fees Act permitted payments list
- Marketing templates checked against the rental bidding and discrimination provisions
- HMRC supervision position confirmed
- Complaints procedure in writing and given to clients on request
Local authority enforcement in this area is often conducted as a regional sweep rather than in response to a single complaint, which means the branch position is checked whether or not anything has gone wrong.
Agencies managing across multiple staff need a per property compliance position that survives handovers. LLCR's Agency plan gives team access with role based permissions and a portfolio compliance score, so status does not live in one negotiator's inbox.
Frequently asked questions
What compliance does a letting agent in England have to have in place in 2026?
At branch level, a letting agent must belong to an approved redress scheme under the 2014 Order, belong to an approved client money protection scheme if client money is held, display the CMP certificate, publish a list of relevant fees inclusive of VAT under section 83 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and charge no prohibited payments under the Tenant Fees Act 2019. At property level, the agent typically operates the landlord's obligations on gas safety, electrical safety, EPC, alarms, Right to Rent, deposit protection and licensing. The two sets are enforced separately and should be tracked separately.
Can a letting agent be fined under the Renters' Rights Act, or only the landlord?
Letting agents can be fined directly. MHCLG's statutory guidance on civil penalties states that penalties for breaches and offences relating to assured tenancy landlord duties may be imposed on any landlord and any person acting or purporting to act on their behalf who is responsible. The same applies to rental discrimination under sections 33 and 34 and to rental bidding under section 56, where penalties reach £7,000 per breach. A failure to provide prescribed information to an existing tenant can also be penalised against a person the landlord contracted with to ensure compliance.
How should an agency keep compliance records across multiple staff?
The practical test is whether the file answers the four core questions without anyone needing to be asked: what is due and when, what was served and when, where the deposit sits, and what the tenant has reported. Records held in individual inboxes fail that test as soon as a negotiator leaves, which is the single most common cause of gaps found during a council inspection or a redress complaint. Holding compliance status per property with role based team access, rather than per staff member, keeps the position visible through handovers and makes a portfolio level view possible without a manual audit.
This guide is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. LLCR is a compliance management platform, not a law firm. For advice specific to your situation, consult a qualified solicitor.