letting fees ban
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Guest Blogs
Get positive: letting fees ban opens-up new opportunities
As of 1st June 2019, letting agents in England and Wales are no longer able to charge additional administration fees to tenants.
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Guest Blogs
‘Tenant fees ban is an interference too far by government’
Outspoken and occasionally waspish agent Trevor Abrahmsohn rails against the government’s ongoing efforts to regulate the industry.
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Features
Why tougher times ahead will be an opportunity for some estate agents
Many agents predict tough times ahead, says Adam Bernstein, as online platforms, waning consumer confidence, rising interest rates and a ban on letting fees create a perfect storm… but one man’s nightmare may be another’s opportunity.
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Guest Blogs
The tenant fees debacle
The ban on tenant fees is, says Carl Burgess, Director at Winkworth Shepherd’s Bush, detrimental to those the Government is actually trying to help.
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Latest property news
Tenant fees ban will cost nearly £10,000 a year per branch, says government
The government's own assessment of the fees ban is likely to cost the industry £340m during the first year, or nearly £10,000 per branch.
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Latest property news
Government rejects agent’s petition calling for tenant fees cap
The Government has rejected a petition signed by nearly 10,400 agents that proposed a tenant fees cap instead of an outright ban. Started by 29-year-old letting agent Rob Farrelly (pictured, below) who began his own business Friend & Farrelly Property Services eight years ago, e-petition 206569 was signed by agents all over the UK. In its response to the e-petition, the Government has revealed its determination to plough on with its draft Tenant Fees Bill published on 1st November, saying it wants to see a rental market in which landlords and not tenants are the primary customer of agents. As well as reiterating its belief that a fees ban will improve transparency and affordability for renters, and that fees are still not clear or explained, it claims that “many letting agents and landlords acknowledge that fees charged to tenants are currently not at a level that is justifiable and agree that intervention is necessary”. “The Government does not believe that a cap would be effective and is likely to lead to a race to the top in terms of fees charged. A ban is easier to understand and enforce.” Agents are also able to see a glimpse of the future…
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Features
Letting fees ban set for Spring 2019, but the devil remains in the detail
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG ) does not expect the letting fees ban to come into force until Spring 2019...
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Latest property news
Tenant Fees Bill is last thing sector needs, Residential Landlords Association tells MPs
A group of MPs leading an investigation into the private rented sector and the draft Tenant Fees Bill got more than they bargained for yesterday afternoon when David Smith (pictured, right), Policy Director at the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) came in to give evidence. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee had convened to hear from the RLA but also the National Landlords Association, a build-to-rent company called PlaceFirst, campaigning group Generation Rent and Citizen’s Advice about how best to police the private rental sector. It’s other task was to find out what the wider world thinks of the proposed lettings fees ban Blunt language David Smith, during a sometimes tour-de-force performance, told the MPs – who included former housing minister Mark Prisk – his views in sometimes blunt language during a two-hour session. His main points, some of which were echoed by the other people giving evidence, were: Fees charged by agents are charged at different levels and employed in varying ways all around the UK, so a blanket ban will be a blunt tool. It’s not true to say fees have been banned in Scotland – they’re now just post-loaded into tenancies, rather than being…
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Latest property news
Letting fees ban will NOT become law until at least Spring 2019
The recently-renamed Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG ) does not expect the letting fees ban to come into force until Spring 2019, it has confirmed. In written evidence made this week to both the Select Committee hearings that scrutinised the draft legislation, and to the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS), MHCLG has revealed that it will be at least 15 months before letting agents and landlords will no longer be able to charge fees to tenants. Introduced by Sajid Javid in November last year, the draft legislation was given a thorough savaging by experts during the hearing on Monday and will now go to a third reading in the House of Commons before moving to the Lords. letting fees ban MPs were told at the hearing by experts from Shelter and the University of York’s Centre for Housing Policy that a letting fees ban could easily lead to higher rents as banned fees were added by landlords to the rent over the length of each tenancy, and also reduce the quality of rented accommodation as landlords tightened their purse strings. “We’re pleased to see more clarity on the timetable for implementation of the ban – it’s much…
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Latest property news
Many rental properties not affected by letting fees ban, study reveals
The letting fees ban may not impact agents as much as many feared it would, a survey of 30,000 agents has found. Three quarters of those who responded to the survey by The Negotiator in partnership with Spark Energy said between 10% and 25% of their properties under management would be affected by the tenant fees ban, and that only 2% said that ‘most or all’ would be affected. But the issue continues to worry agents, 68% of whom said it still remains their biggest worry for 2018, the survey – which is published in full within the latest issue (pictured) of The Negotiator magazine – found. Among the agents who responded 86% had 500 properties or fewer under management, 8% had between 501 and 1000 and 6% managed more than 1001 properties. But on the ground, agents currently have more pressing operational issues to worry about than the fees ban. Nearly a half of the agents said their biggest issues were damage to properties by tenants while 36% said problems with rental payments came second. Some agents are also becoming irked by what they see as ‘over regulation’ of the rental sector. Among them, 45% said there was too…
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