Greenwich Council ‘right’ to fine letting agents £12.5k

A letting agent that “negligently failed” to protect renters’ hard-earned cash has been hit with a £12,500 fine.

The financial penalty was issued to Maritime Properties after a judge ruled in favour of Greenwich council.

Maritime Properties incorrectly stated on its website that it was part of the Client Money Protection (CMP) scheme, but it had actually ignored its obligation to join the scheme for more than a year.

CMP schemes make sure landlords and tenants are compensated if letting agents cannot repay their money.

It has been the law since April 2019 for letting agents to be part of a CMP scheme, but Maritime Properties didn’t sign up until June 2021, despite warnings.

The council fined Maritime Properties £12,500 in October 2021 – a sum the letting agents tried to challenge in court, arguing it should be lower or nothing at all.

Last month, Judge J Findlay found the council acted correctly, insisting Maritime Properties “continued to trade without being a member of the CMP”.

They ruled the fixed penalty issued by the council was “fair and proportionate” and “took into account the severity of the breach.”

Mr Findlay said: “While it took sporadic action to join the CMP scheme, (Maritime Properties) did not follow anything close to a reasonable fashion.

In effect, its failures were so negligent that as to be tantamount to deliberate.”