“With the tenancy fee ban now announced for the 1st June 2019 a massive shake up in the industry is under way”. These are the comments by Richard Rabin, Director at Lang Town & Country.
“Any referencing, preparation of documents to comply with legislation, time spent on arranging the tenancy, sign up time and basically anything from first taking a call, to seeing the tenant into the property, no fee can be charged to the tenant.
Whether people think that is fair or not is a personal viewpoint but the cost to the industry may lead to closures in the letting industry and potentially a rise in rents as costs will have to be met somewhere”
Richard went on to say “We at Lang Town & Country Have been preparing for this news for some time. We know that a lot of letting agents will have to put up their Landlords fees by a considerable amount to allow them to stay in business. We however are looking at different ways including offering LL’s a new premium service that will include a rent guarantee policy as well as other benefits.”
David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark said “I would suggest it is sensible to prepare the landlords now.
“These fees aren’t going to go away, they will be merged into something else.
“You can’t take the sort of money out of the industry and expect it to disappear.”
“Tenants will end up paying the fees through their rent.”
Commenting on the publication of the draft Tenants Fees Bill
“The day we have been expecting since the Chancellor announced the ban on tenant fees in the Autumn Statement 2016 has arrived, with the Tenant Fees Bill beginning its passage through Parliament this afternoon.
“We do not believe the Bill will achieve its aims, as our own research last year demonstrated that tenants will end up worse off and banning fees will not result in a more affordable private rented sector.
“ARLA Propertymark has worked hard over the last 18 months to explain the unintended consequences of the ban to Government, and we’re pleased they have listened and allowed Change of Sharer, Surrender of Tenancy, holding deposits, exempted the Green Deal Charge, and capped security deposits at six weeks, rather than the Committee’s proposed five-week cap. Now that we have greater clarity on what the ban will entail, agents must start preparing for when it comes into force.”
DAVID COX
Chief Executive, ARLA Propertymark
http://www.arla.co.uk/lobbying/letting-agent-fees/england.aspx
