Way back in October 2016, Phillip Hammond pledged to end renters’ responsibility for paying landlords’ agents fees. Acknowledging the system as “unfair”, he promised to bring the changes previously proposed, through a Private Members’ Bill, by Baroness Grender. Still, government launched a consultation. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making our response to that consultation (submitted 1 June 2018) as strong as possible.
At last, the Tenant Fees Act will come into effect on 1 June 2019. Thereafter, the only costs landlords and agents will be able to charge to tenants will be:
- Rent
- Utilities and council tax if these included within the tenancy
- A refundable deposit which should be no more than five weeks rent, if the annual rent is less than £50000.
- A refundable holding deposit to reserve the property which should be more more than one weeks rent.
- Changes to the tenancy requested by the tenant which should no more than £50 or “reasonable cost”
- Early termination of the tenancy requested by the tenant
- Defaults by the tenant which include fines for late rent payments or lost keys. Again, as with changes to the tenancy, these costs must be “reasonable” and supported by evidence, in writing, from the landlord or their agent
Any other fees will be illegal. A landlord or agent found to have charged fees illegally could be fined £5,000 for a first offence. If they were to break the rules again within five years of that first offence, they could be given an unlimited fine.
