Ban on letting agents charging renters rip-off fees from this summer
The Tenant Fee Bill has finally been given a start date almost three years after it was announced
LETTING agents will be banned from charging tenants rip-off fees from June 1, saving renters hundreds of pounds.
The long-awaited Tenant Fee Bill has finally been given a date when it will be made into law, almost three years after it was announced.
Renters currently face forking out fees of around £432 when taking on a new tenancy - one letting agency even charged tenants £300 to view a property.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, the Government’s housing spokesperson in the House of Lords, made the announcement during the Bill's third reading yesterday.
He said: "We need to enable agents and landlords following Royal Assent to become compliant but we intend for the provisions to come into force on June 1 2019.
"This would mean the ban on lettings fees would apply to all tenancies signed after this date."
PAYING MORE THAN £1,200 IN LETTING FEES
MICHELE Hargan, a 48-year-old mother of three, had to pay two sets of letting agent fees, totalling more than £1,200, in a year.
She moved into one house in 2017 but was then forced to move again last month due to maintenance issues.
"I'd only moved into my other place six months before so I paid £500-odd pound then and six months later I’ve had to do it again," she says. "It was extremely difficult to find the money."
For her new property in Bournemouth, Hargan paid her letting agent a whopping £720 for referencing and admin fees for her family.
"It is absolutely crazy and they also want the one month’s advance and one month’s deposit as well so it does really all add up,"she says.
The Bill still needs to be debated in the House of Commons, which is subject to parliamentary timetables, and could impact the start date.
The long awaited Bill was promised in November 2016 by the then Chancellor George Osborne but the Government has been dragging its feet bringing it into law.
Yesterday's reading was the last chance the House of Lords had to introduce any changes to the Bill.
Two minor amendments were passed - both relating to setting a date where authorities can start charging interest on holding deposits that haven't been returned to the tenants without a valid reason.
How to haggle with your landlord and bring down your rent
WHEN you first sign your tenancy agreement with your landlord your rent should be agreed either in writing or verbally.
To increase your rent your landlord must send you a section 13 notice which gives you a month's notice in writing telling you how much your rent will be increased by and the date when your rent will go up.
At this stage you should try to talk to your landlord and come to a fair agreement on how much rent you should pay.
Your landlord can only raise your rent if you agree to the increased price.
Matt Hutchinson, communications director for flatsharing website SpareRoom.com said that if you are a good tenant then you've got bargaining power.
"The first thing to bear in mind is that demand is lower at the moment than over the past couple of years.
"That means you’ve got a bit more bargaining power, especially if you’ve been a good tenant, as your landlord won’t want the expense and hassle of having to find another tenant and even potentially face a period with the property empty.
"Failing that, it’s worth seeing if you can get anything thrown in with a rent increase, such as minor bits of redecorating or any bills."
Landbay have a free rent check service to see how much rent you should be paying in your area.
You can find the rent check service
Find out more about how to haggle with your landlord to bring your rent down here.
But some landlords fear that they will now be forced to hike rents by up to £270 a year as a result of the ban, according to MakeUrMove.
Alexandra Morris from the online letting expert said: "Our fear is that, while the Government's intention was to make the private rental sector more affordable and fairer for tenants, they will likely end up worse off.
"Unless lettings agents can transform their business models many landlords, particularly the smaller landlords who make up the biggest proportion of the private rental sector and often operate on very tight margins, will be forced to raise rents to cover the increased costs they will incur as a result of the bill."
Letting agents can currently charge renters for things like referencing, viewing a property and processing fees.
Under the new rules, they will only be allowed to charge for tenant damages, if the tenant loses their keys and for late payment.
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The Bill will also limit the size of a holding deposit to no more than five weeks worth of rent where the annual income is below £50,000.
Landlords can still charge tenants to make a change to the tenancy, with £50 considered the "norm" - any figure above this would need to be backed up with written evidence.
Similarly, tenants wanting to leave a contract early will be liable to pay the rent up to a maximum of the length of the fixed term of the contract.
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