fair fees forum
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Fair Fees Forum calls time on weak lettings industry regulation
The time for stronger regulation of the industry to stop rogue agents, landlords and tenants has come, says the Fair Fees Forum set up by the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) last year to tackle the threat of a letting fee ban. These should include, it says, better and more consistent Local Authority policing of the industry, tougher measures for rogue agents and the accreditation of referencing companies to help prevent bogus and repeat-offending tenants. The announcement followed a meeting held on Wednesday in a secret location attended by representatives from many of the industry’s leading firms including the three deposit schemes, NALS, RICS, the RLA and agents Chestertons, Countrywide, Hamptons, Spicerhaart, Winkworth and Connells Group. Fair Fees Forum The main problems that the Fair Fees Forum identified include patchy and sometimes non-existent policing of rogue agents, landlords and agents which has led to a regulatory housing ‘postcode lottery’ in the UK in which different authorities apply different resources to enforcing existing housing industry regulations. Members of the Fair Fees Forum also want there to be greater effort to bring rogue agents either back “into the fold” or to permanently exclude them, rather than the current system of patchy temporary…
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CMA rejects industry forum’s call for letting fees ban review
The NALS-organised industry Fair Fees Forum has had its request for a letting fees ban review rejected by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which says there is too little time to complete it. “Given the pivotal role played by the private rented sector, we feel this decision is a missed opportunity to review the way the sector works to deliver the best outcome for all concerned,” says Isobel Thompson (pictured, below), Chief Executive of the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS). Irreparable damage The CMA decision not to get involved comes despite the Forum warning that great care must be taken not to cause “irreparable damage” to this part of the private rented sector by rushing through a ban without “fully considering the impact on the sector.” The news may surprise many in the industry who had been led to believe that after the soon-to-be published results of the consultation – and given both the pressures on parliamentary time and the need for primary legislations to impose a ban – it was unlikely that one would be introduced until next year. This would have given the CMA plenty of time to review the details of the ban. “This is disappointing news for the…
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Here’s what letting fees ban will really mean for tenants and agents, industry tells DCLG
The likely results of a letting fees ban for tenants and agents have been spelled out by the National Approved Lettings Scheme (NALS) in a briefing document produced by its Fair Fees Forum for the Department of Communities and Local Government. As well as highlighting how poor policing of a letting fees ban would lead to an unfair advantage for those who did not comply with the ban, the Fair Fees Forum says there will be “a number of serious disadvantages for tenants”. These include: Rents will rise as landlords seek to recoup the costs of referencing, deposit administration and inventories. The practice of high ‘month one rents’ in lieu of fees will increase. Block viewings rather than individual accompanied viewings will become the norm. Tenancy negotiations will need to simpler and more streamlined and less tailored. Tenants will have to provide their own references plus a lot of the information currently gathered by letting agents. Less help for tenants when Right to Rent enquiries become complicated or with utility bill and transfer problems. Property standards may fall as landlords do fewer repairs or refurbish properties less often. The Fair Fees Forum also makes the point that banning fees may lead…
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NALS reframes Fair Fees Forum after ban bombshell
This afternoon the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) announced how its recently-launched Fair Fees Forum will adapt to the ‘surprise’ announcement of a total ban on tenants fees by Philip Hammond last week. The Fair Fees Forum had only just began its work a week before Hammond’s announcement and had set up a working group due to meet the day after the Autumn Statement. But the news that the government intends to go for an outright ban changed everything. NALS revealed that the Fair Fees Forum working group will instead ‘inform the scope of the Government’s consultation prior to a ban’. The forum’s meeting on Friday was attended by officials from the Department of Communities and Local Government who ‘welcomed’ its work so NALS hopes this will give the forum’s advice greater weight at ministerial level. While the working group agreed unanimously to help frame the consultation around the fees ban, some members reserved the right to propose an alternative. But NALS says its key objectives will be to define what ‘fee’ and ‘charges’ are, review how the ban has performed in Scotland, and explore what the implications of the ban in England will be, and how it will be…
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NALS Fair Fees Forum meets to head off a ban
The Fair Fees Forum set up last month by the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) met yesterday for the first time to consider the contentious issue of excessive fees charged to tenants by agents. Many in the industry are hoping the consensus it will built can head off an outright ban on tenant fees by replacing it with a fees cap. It was quite a meeting of minds. Every interest group was invited including those from the lettings industry, two of the redress schemes and the Department for Communities and Local Government. Representatives from trading standards and tenant groups such as Crisis and Shelter were also at the ‘first of its kind’ gathering, which NALS hopes will lead to consensus among the different groups on a ‘fair fees charter’. Agents represented at the meeting included Belvoir, Chestertons, Foxtons, Hunters, Leaders, Northwood, Portico, Savills, Spicerhaart and Winkworth, all of whom made up an ‘agent group’ at the day’s proceedings. The Residential Landlords Association also had representatives at the meeting. The agent group agreed unanimously on the need for ‘fair, justifiable and transparent fees’ and that excessive fees should be curbed. But they also made it clear that agents should be able to…
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