Reminder to agents - only a week remaining for fees b...

Only just over a week remains before the end of the formal consultation on the government’s proposal to ban letting fees applied to tenants in England.

If agents want to participate in the formal consultation, they have to submit their online responses by June 2 - only a short time, especially with the extended Bank Holiday weekend between now and the deadline.

All three major political parties have pledged to ban letting agents’ fees on tenants and the Conservatives have explicitly said that if returned to power on June 8 they will follow through the consultation period with, eventually, a ban.

An attempt to have the consultation suspended because of the General Election - coordinated by the Association of Residential Letting Agents and backed by a string of agents and bodies - proved unsuccessful.

That call for postponing was backed by Belvoir, Chestertons, Connells Group, Countrywide, Dexters, Felicity J Lord, Foxtons, Haart, Hamptons International, Hunters, JLL, Knight Frank, Leaders, Martin & Co., Romans, Savills, Sequence, the Tenancy Deposit Service and Your Move, as well as myDeposits.

However, a government statement issued at the time of the consultation’s launch says: "We’re determined to make all types of housing more affordable and secure for ordinary working people. Tenants should only be required to pay their rent alongside a refundable deposit and not face hidden fees" says housing minister Gavin Barwell.

You can see the consultation document here.

Joe Mitchell
26 May 2017 11:48 AM

I totally agree with you Beth. Instead of simply putting a cap on fees to cater for at least some of the ever increasing workload agents have to do to keep tenants safe and happy, the government (whichever one) will just introduce rent caps next to cater for their own stupidity here. After that I'd imagine things like longer term tenancies etc etc until eventually tenants have more rights over a landlords homes than the landlords do.
Delusional!