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Shocking impact of fees ban on letting agencies revealed in new report

The extent to which the fees ban has made trading conditions tougher for lettings agencies is revealed, including how 10% have lost a THIRD of their income.

Nigel Lewis

Dire warnings that many lettings agencies would struggle to make up the revenue lost following the tenant fees ban have turned out to be true, a shocking report has revealed.

This includes how nearly a third of agencies say they have lost between 10% and 20% of their revenue as a result of the fees ban, and that a further third have lost up to 10%.

Also, 17% of respondents in the survey by lettings platform Goodlord said they had lost between 21% and 30% of their turnover and 10% had lost more than 30%.

This leaves just 15% who have found new sources of revenue following the ban.

These figures largely echo research by Goodlord following the ban when agents were asked to calculate how the ban would pan out for their business.

Although industry discussions about the ban have died down recently, many agents say they are more worried about the challenges of complying with the fees ban they are with the arguably more complicated anti money laundering prevention rules.

Link to Tenant Fees Act news“It’s clear that the Tenant Fees Act has had a significant impact on the industry,” says Tom Mundy, COO at Goodlord (left).

“The majority of agents have seen revenues hit and a large slice of the market continues to worry about compliance.  These figures show just how pivotal this legislation has been, with few emerging unaffected by the changes.

“With further pieces of key regulation due in 2020 and beyond, it’s essential that agents stay nimble and prepare their business models for more change to ensure they continue to prosper this decade.”

Read more about the tenant fees ban.

February 6, 2020

2 comments

  1. Julian your comments echo those of many of my clients, the tenant, just like the first time buyer the most vulnerable components are those most squeezed.

    I despair of ill-advised government intervention, when will they consult fully with the rank and file of the industry before they make big changes?

    The private landlord is under threat, which means somewhere for tenants to live is too. More and more the direction of travel is institutional players being landlords, this seems to be the government logic.

    The outcome seems to be, more and more lettings companies selling up, and maybe these larger concerns who are doing the buying will be able to cope with the increasing levels of red tape that regularly cascade into the sector.

  2. All we did is put more onus on the tenants to look after themselves. They can change their own utilities now, no pets, no shares only the best tenants will get a house as the landlord is paying the reference fees and doesn’t want to pay twice. This has backfired on tenants in service levels, increased rents and lowered supply. The worse it gets the better as the more idiotic it make the government look for pandering to the populist and picking on the property business again to solve their self created mess.

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