In his autumn statement Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that letting agents in England are to be banned from charging fees to tenants ‘as soon as possible’.
At the moment letting agents are able to charge what can be quite substantial fees to tenants for taking up references, carrying out credit and immigration checks and general administration. In Scotland those sort of fees have been outlawed for some time and the same is now going to happen in England.
Accordingly it will be landlords who have to pay for any such charges that letting agents still want to try and charge although it remains to be seen how many letting agents will in fact insist on continuing to charge these sort of fees given the ability of Landlords to shop around for the best deal.
Clearly the government hopes that the ban will help to free up the residential rental market by making it easier and cheaper for people to rent.
The evidence from Scotland suggests that might be the result.
For advice about any aspect of renting residential property please contact Nick Lambert on 0114 266 6660 or by email to [email protected]
