Rob Farrelly
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Latest property news
Agent behind tenant fees ban e-petition reveals what he thinks of government response
Firstly, thanks to everyone who has supported our campaign so far. It shows the strength in our views and in my opinion outweighs the 4,700 [consultation process] responses on which the draft [Tenant Fees Bill] was based on. Do you think they made the 4,700 people who offered their feedback aware that their rents will be dramatically rising come 2019 (which has been widely acknowledged and wholly ignored)? Perhaps the government should take some feedback from the people who will be losing their jobs/businesses? And perhaps they should take some feedback from the people that will no longer be able to pass references because their affordability no longer meets the higher rents threshold which would you believe, has been acknowledged…and ignored. To say I am disappointed with the response would be a huge understatement and to be honest is a mockery to the hours committed to raising awareness and acquiring signatures. Tenant fees ban At no point does this response consider that a fee cap would be a fair and just solution nor do they make any attempt to explain as to why it would not be a fair and just solution – instead admitting that enforcing a complete ban…
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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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Latest property news
Exclusive: Opposition to fees ban strongest in rural, Conservative constituencies
SIGN THE PETITION AGAINST THE LETTINGS FEE BAN HERE Opposition among agents to the government’s tenant fees ban is strongest in rural, Conservative-voting area of the country, The Negotiator can reveal. Analysis of the 8,500 people who have so far signed an e-petition calling on the government to do a U-turn on the policy and instead bring in a fees cap reveals that the areas with the most signatures are all rural and semi-urban areas with Conservative MPs. The only exceptions to this rule are Coventry, six of London’s inner boroughs including Battersea, Bermondsey, Limehouse, West Ham, Ealing and Finchley, plus, Brighton and Hove, Bournemouth and Bristol West. The areas where most people have signed the petition are in parts of Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire, East Sussex, Kent, Essex, East Anglia, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. Opposition to a ban is weaker in the north although there are hotspots of people signing the petition in North Lincolnshire and Lancashire. Within housing minister Dominic Raab’s constituency of Esher & Walton in Surrey, 17 people have signed the petition, while in Sajid Javid’s constituency of Bromsgrove in the West Midlands, 15 people have. The constituency with the highest number of signatures is in Kettering,…
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