The Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) has issued revised accountant’s reports for licence renewal applications (PSRA/S35 – Renewal ABC where client accounts are held and PSRA/S35 - Renewal D where service charges and/or sinking fund contributions are paid into a "relevant account”) in accordance with the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011 (Client Moneys) Regulations 2012 (“the Regulations”). These reports replace the 2014 versions and should be used in making 2017 applications for renewals. The revised reports contain new appendices and some additional details elsewhere in the reports (these changes are highlighted in red on the revised reports).
New Appendix 7 (Renewal ABC) and Appendix 3 (Renewal D)
These appendices are relevant where breaches of the Regulations have been identified and reported in appendix 1 or appendix 2 to the report. The new appendices have been included for the purpose of the PSRA receiving details of the procedures that have been/will be put in place by the licensee to address the breaches.
We recommend that where licensees have outlined details of procedures, that have been or will be put in place to address matters outlined in appendix 1 or appendix 2, members do not include such details in appendix 7 (Renewal ABC) or appendix 3 (Renewal D). Instead we recommend that members state that the licensee will provide these details to the PSRA under separate cover.
Members should note that, as set out in the updated accountant’s report, these new appendices are outside the scope of the opinion provided by the accountant. We consider, however, that the inclusion of the information sought within an appendix to the accountant’s report, allied to the requirement for the accountant to sign and date the appendices, represents a significant risk that the scope of work undertaken by the accountant could be overestimated and the accountant’s report therefore misinterpreted.
The accountant does not perform any work in relation to procedures identified by the licensee to address reported breaches and does not provide any assurance that those procedures are either appropriate to address the breaches or are properly implemented by the licensee.
We further recommend that if requested by the client to assist in identifying or implementing procedures, such work is undertaken as a separate engagement with separate engagement terms.
Appendix 6 - Renewal ABC only
Renewal ABC also contains a new appendix, appendix 6, which requests details of the person(s) mandated to withdraw funds from the client account and this information should be available from the client’s records. Regulation 16(8)9d) requires this detail to be recorded in the bank account register which is part of the minimum accounting records required by the regulations.
The following are available on the PSRA’s website:
Click here for details of licence renewal process
Click here for the accountant’s reports.