Letting fees display rules enforcement is weak or non-existent, research reveals

The fees display regulations introduced two years ago to force agents to show how much they charge tenants remain largely unenforced, research by the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) has revealed. NALS made Freedom of Information requests to every local authority in England and the results make for grim reading, while also highlighting the huge challenges that cash-strapped councils will face when they begin enforcing the government’s proposed letting fees ban. An astonishing 93% % of all the Local Authorities canvassed have not issued any penalties or final warnings to agents for not displaying their fees since the new regulations were introduced in 2015. And the three local authorities who have issued financial penalties – Warwickshire, Kensington & Chelsea and Redbridge – have only mustered THREE in total. Only one of these has been paid in full. Local Authorities’ ability to issue warning letters is only marginally better. Just three local authorities have issued warning letters in significant numbers – East Sussex, Redbridge and Walsall – and in total only 83 warning letters have been issued across the UK so far. Lack of resources These figures reflect the lack of resources that most local authorities have available to police the regulation of letting agents. The NALS research shows…