Fees ban: government scraps workshops but consultation goes on

The Department of Communities and Local Government is scrapping a series of workshops for letting agents to discuss the proposed ban on fees levied on tenants in England - but the formal consultation on the ban continues until June 2.

Letting agents who had enrolled for the workshops (the first of which was to be held on April 28 in London) have been told today that as a result of the June 8 General Election the workshops will be scrapped.

The letter to agents, being sent out by email today, reads:

“As we are now in a pre-election period, we sincerely regret to announce that we are unable to continue with the workshops scheduled between April 28 and May 11 to support the consultation on banning letting agent fees paid by tenants.

“The consultation will remain open until 2 June and we continue to welcome your thoughts in this forum.

“Subject to the new government and the consultation responses, additional workshops discussing the letting agent fee ban may be held later in the year. We will email you with details of any such workshops and the DCLG.gov website will be used to advise of further updates.

“If you would like to contact the Letting Agents team for further information, you can do so by emailing lettingagentsteam@communities.gsi.gov.uk. 

“We thank you for your interest in the workshops. Your thoughts on the ban on letting agents’ fees to tenants remain just as important and we do hope that you will continue to engage with the Department through the consultation or via email.

“Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.”