Department of communities and local government
-
Latest property news
Electrical installation checks of rented properties to become compulsory
Letting agents and property managers in England and Wales will soon have to organise electrical installation checks of privately rented properties following the recommendations of a government report. After a detailed examination of the subject, the working group set up by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has recommended that electrical installation checks should be compulsory for properties within the Private Rented Sector (PRS) and carried out every five years. The working group also says a scheme should be set up to register and approve the people who will carry out the checks and separate electrical safety from the Building Regulations regulatory framework. Led by five senior figures from the DCLG, the working group’s members included every membership organisation within the lettings industry including most of the main membership associations representing agents and landlords. electrical installation checks The final recommendation is that the requirements for electrical installation checks should be phased in, starting with new tenancies before being rolled out to include existing ones. But the rest of recommendations are not mandatory and include instead recommendations. These include that landlords or agents should carry out visual checks of electrical equipment at a change of tenancy, that paperwork confirming…
Read More » -
Latest property news
Draft Tenant Fees Bill is published
The government has this morning introduced its draft Tenant Fees Bill in parliament, which reveals the full details of its plans to make the charging of fees to tenants an offence, and to make it compulsory for agents to be a member of a client money protection scheme. The announcement comes after nearly seven months of waiting for agents during which a three-month industry consultation has been completed, and the draft bill will be the government’s initial framing of the bill following that. “The ban will make renting fairer and easier for tenants by allowing them to see upfront what a given property will cost them – the rent that is advertised will be what you are expected to pay, nothing more,” says Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (pictured, left). “It will also sharpen and increase letting agents’ incentives to compete for landlords’ business, resulting in a better and more transparent service for everyone.” The bill applies to both landlords and their agents and bans all fees or prohibited payments as a condition of arranging the grant, renewal or continuance of a tenancy in England. It puts payment by tenants to landlords or agents into…
Read More » -
Latest property news
How much will agents lose when letting agent fees ban kicks in?
It’s a figure much discussed within the consultation document published on Friday setting out the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG’s) plans to introduced a letting agent fees ban. If the DCLG’s plans are implemented as they stand following the consultation period, then neither landlords nor agents will be able to charge tenants any “fees, premium or charges to facilitate the granting, renewal or continuance of a tenancy”. “The Government also proposes to ban any letting fees charged to tenants by landlords and any other third parties to ensure that letting agent fees are not paid by tenants through other routes. Tenants should only be required to pay their rent and a refundable deposit,” the consultation says. Average fee Within the document’s detail, the DCLG says the average fee taken by agents is between £200-300, based on the 2014-15 English Housing Survey, while the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) is reported to have indicated an average fee of £172 with a range of between £30 and £500. Campaigning group Generation Rent told DCLG that the average for a couple renting a home is £400 within range of between £40 and £780, while homelessness charity Shelter believes one in seven renters…
Read More »
