Make compliance easy with a property CRM

22nd June 2023

Ric Dawson, Director of Product at Alto, answers your questions about compliance for estate agents and the role of property CRM software in meeting obligations.

How are compliance requirements changing for estate agents? 

In a rapidly evolving property sector with constant pressures on estate agents and lettings agents, compliance remains one of the most significant challenges – and one that’s certainly not going away anytime soon.  

From AML (anti-Money laundering) checks for estate agents, to lettings regulation and much more in between, achieving compliance is a key aspect of any property business. 

Legislation is becoming ever more complex and you only have to look at the property trade press to see the ongoing impact, with constant reminders about fines and repercussions estate agents could face if they’re not compliant.

What does a property CRM offer? 

Estate agency CRM software like Alto’s cloud-based solution gives agents the opportunity to streamline key elements of their business, with intelligent reporting tools, reliable audit trails and automated milestones throughout the sales and lettings journey. This not only ensures the business is compliant, but makes it easier too. 

Increasing efficiency across the organisation can free up agents to focus on what they do best – focusing their efforts on customers –without compromising all-important compliance obligations.  

How can a property CRM reduce administrative load and save time?

One of the most time consuming – and least enjoyable – parts of any estate agency or letting agency business is often administrative tasks.

Established CRMs like Alto can simplify admin and compliance processes by partnering with prop tech integrations, like our tenant referencing, tenant onboarding, tenant deposit scheme and anti-money laundering partnerships.

AML regulation is a great example of how the system saves time. Compliance with AML can often feel like a burden but using Alto with SmartSearch’s verification system means there’s no need to re-key any data, while ID information can be uploaded and verified at the same time as screening for sanctions and PEPs.

Not only does this save time but also reduces the risk of potentially very costly errors. And it’s not just the agent that benefits – electronic ID verification saves customers from having to make a trip to the office too.  

Can it save money? 

Yes – investing in the right property management CRM can also save the cost of creating legally compliant letters, notices and agreements externally. 

Alto’s integration with The Letting Centre makes these documents available  in the software, and automatically updates them for each individual tenancy. 

What guarantees are there over the legality of these documents? 

Legal agreements and documents in Alto come with a compliance guarantee for complete peace of mind. We even provide access to a helpline if you ever need independent legal advice, for example if the wording is ever questioned by a landlord, tenant, lender or legal advisor. 

Does Alto include NTS (National Trading Standards) compliance?

Yes, in fact, Alto’s also one of the only property CRMs that is NTS-compliant. 

We’re always making changes to improve the system, like the introduction of new fields when an agent uploads a listing to Alto, so that they can capture and display NTS ‘Part A’ information. 

And we’re not stopping  there – we already have plans in place to implement ‘Part B’ and ‘C’ in the future.

The system also flags to agents if they’re missing any NTS fields when adding property details or publishing listings, to reduce the risk of non-compliant listings.  

To find out more about Alto and how we can support your compliance requirements, book a chat with one our experts today.