Agent says "share, share, share" his petition to reverse fees ban

An Essex lettings agent has explained why he has set up an online petition calling for a reversal of the government’s proposal to ban fees levied on tenants.

This week the newly-renamed Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government told NALS that spring 2019 would be the earliest implementation date.

Even so, Rob Farrelly of Friend & Farrelly Property Services in Loughton, says his online petition is the only place that agents can go to seek a U-turn.

“To be honest, when I first heard about a complete fee ban I was not overly concerned. I don’t believe for a second that a complete fee ban is in anyway the correct decision - surely it was only a matter of time before someone looked at the repercussions of such a bold move?” he says. 

He says that as the momentum behind the ban was increasing he decided to look into how he could help reverse the move - but he claims he quickly realised that the agents’ voices were not being heard by government.

“My plea is for to others to sign this petition but equally as important, I ask people to ‘share, share, share’. Facebook, Linkedin and email are great platforms for this. If you work in a company with multiple offices, please forward to everyone. There is only one way to have our voices heard… we need to make some noise” he says

You can see the petition here.

To date it has around 6.200 signatures and needs 10,000 to even receive a response from the government. Only if it gets 100,000 signatures will there be any possibility of a debate on the subject in parliament - and then it may be a low-profile debate, not necessarily in the chamber of the Commons or the Lords.