Following a complaint that was brought to attention of the Advertising Standards Authority, from the 1st of November all Letting Agents must disclose compulsory fees upfront by displaying any additional costs like administration or referencing fees in their advertising.
Compulsory additional costs must be included online and in any adverts, and should state if they are per property or per tenant. The changes follow a complaint earlier this year about Your Move and the Committees of Advertising Practise (CAP) states on its website that; “The ASA recently upheld a complaint about online ads for a letting agent that did not make clear that an administration fee applied to the quoted prices, or explain how that fee would be calculated.”
The CAP guidelines state that fees should be referred to alongside the headline asking for rent;
For example, for non-optional fees that are always the same and apply to each tenant:
“£1500pcm + £150 admin fee per tenant”
If non-optional fees apply to all customers but can’t be calculated in advance the price statement could be:
“£1500pcm + fees”
For more information and full details, visit the CAP website
… http://www.cap.org.uk/Advice-Training-on-the-rules/Advice-Online-Database/Compulsory-costs-and-charges-Letting-agents.aspx
