Determining trust money for resident letting agents
As a resident letting agent, you must have a trust account in order to handle trust money.
Opening or closing a trust account
You must make sure all trust money is deposited into your trust account. You should use your general business account for any non-trust money.
In some cases, however, you will receive trust and non-trust money in the same transaction (and the money can't be practically divided).
In these cases, you will need to:
- pay the whole amount into the trust account
- remove the non-trust money portion from the trust account within 14 days.
These rules exist for good reason. Allowing non-trust monies to accumulate in trust accounts can:
- make it harder for your auditor or the Office of Fair Trading to audit your trust account
- increase the time and cost of conducting the audit
- deny you access to cash that legitimately belongs to your business.