Brilliant news that Letting Agents fees are going to be banned...

[weresquirrel]

and deposits limited to 1 week instead of 6! Yay, at last someone is giving a damn about poor tenants who have been treated like crap for years, both by the Government and by landlords and letting agents! Hooray! Well done the evil Tories .

I've just had to pay £72 to renew a tenancy. It would have been free to just let it go to a rolling tenancy but apparently those aren't done anymore... It's getting really expensive to rent. It would be great for the fees to be banned!

Rents are falling?? Where?! Just rising more and more in my area.

All those complaining should be thankful you didn't get Corbyn in! He is in favour of a lot more policies to help tenants and discourage landlords.

Yeah, and what do you think happens then? People just stop wanting to be landlords. With all the ridiculous hoops landlords already have to jump through, with tenants constantly doing a bunk without paying their last few months rent, wrecking the houses, etc.
my dh is a landlord and he's planning on selling his properties and calling it a day. It's just too stressful and not worth it anymore. Lots of others we know are doing the same.

But with nowhere near enough council houses being built and house prices rising and rising, where do you think people are going to live?

Rents are falling in London and other areas in the south.

This bill is great news and not before time. Rents may rise slightly but it's means moving will be much more affordable for those on lower incomes.

I'll get excited when they put a date on it I was enquiring about a house the other day and i asked if they knew when the tenancy fees were going to be scrapped. I was told noone had heard anything since the announcement made by theresa may ages ago. I was also told in no uncertain terms that it didn't matter as they would find something to replace it anyway

MissWiggy "where are people going to live?"

Are you serious? They will live in the many properties which LLs, like your H are selling. It's long been predicted that LLs will have to sell, because of the changes in tax rules etc. So if lots of houses come on the market, prices will fall and either new or existing Lls will buy, or homes will be bought by people WHO ARE ACTULLAY GOING TO LIVE IN IT! What a thought eh?

NoUserName it has just been announced in the Queens speech so it is going to happen.

One month, fine. One week, ridiculous.

my dh is a landlord and he's planning on selling his properties and calling it a day. It's just too stressful and not worth it anymore. Lots of others we know are doing the same. But with nowhere near enough council houses being built and house prices rising and rising, where do you think people are going to live?

I didn't realise that when a landlord sells a property, it instantly disappears in a puff of smoke.

Presumably either a tenant will buy it and become a homeowner or another landlord will buy it and rent it out at a lower rent. Perhaps your husband will have to reduce the price in order to get rid of it...?

We will just add on the cost over 12 months... very simple. People are desperate to rent here due to rising house prices so it will just push up demand for rentals. Central Manchester area... rents are increasing here.

I know it is going to happen but my question is when and how is it going to be protected so that they can't just call it something else or tag it on to rent

It won't drive up costs of renting because you're already paying for (extortionate, inflated) fees. It'll just include those costs as part of the rent, so you can see up-front what you're paying, rather than hide them when you're applying and then insist on them as a lump sum up-front.

We've had this in Scotland for years and it's fine. Despite much flapping from letting agents when the legislation came in, renting has carried on largely unchanged.

But with nowhere near enough council houses being built and house prices rising and rising, where do you think people are going to live?

House prices are rising and rising because people are buying up a necessity in order to fund their own lifestyle.

Once these people stop doing that, prices will fall. Private letters who want to buy will be able to do so, councils who want to add to their stock will get more houses for their money.

I was also told in no uncertain terms that it didn't matter as they would find something to replace it anyway

They can try but;

But it also goes further than the initial consultation by saying there will be measures to enforce the ban with provision for tenants to be able to recover unlawfully charged fees.

stopthepress.propertyindustryeye.com/newsflash-lettings-fee-ban-will-let-tenants-recover-unlawful-charges/

With these being held in central schemes surely there could be a way to transfer a deposit from one property to another, even if it was dependent on a reliability rating for the tenants??
That's actually a really good idea. It would make life easier for the tenants.

I'm a landlord and approve.

I have a flat and 1 weeks deposit is ludicrous...I have had nightmare tenants who trash the flat in the past and that would never come close to covering the costs.

I also pay considerable estate agents fees, various council letting fees etc..etc...don't make out that the landlords are always the bad guys as it's simply not true! I only hold back part of a deposit if there is damage - never wear & tear. I have to belong to a deposit protection scheme for every tenancy and believe me the tenant has way more protection than the landlord...

As a former renter and a landlord I have to say I was shocked at the amount of deposit required, for a family home with a dog a rental deposit would have been over £4K. (Not our rental, just one locally I looked at for a small family home near ours).

I don't know how people afford that because if you have £4k lying around spare you'd be on your way to a deposit to buy.

The government seems intent on pushing people out of the rental market but there's no where for them to go.

Misswiggy, the properties your Dh sells aren't going to magically disappear. Whether it's an owner occupier or a LL who can make it work, someone will be living in them.

I have one rental property in Sw17 so I watch the market closely, and rents there are certainly falling a bit.

My tenants have been there nearly 5 years now. I have never raised the rent, and it was noticeable that on the last renewal, my letting agents (who are pretty good) did not, for the first time, recommend raising the rent just because I could.
I think the writing was on the wall even last year - rents just getting too expensive and consequently a lot of void periods - and it's even even more the case now.

BRILLIANT

When you have letting agents charging: holding deposits, actual deposits, contract costs, inventory fees, credit check and guarantor fees upwards of thousands of pounds!

Blood sucking leeches

Was it in the manifesto ? Or is this a new thing that just popped up post election ?

Cos if it was in the manifesto, why didn't they waggle it a bit more ? It sounds like it might have been less of a vote dampener than some of the other stuff they had. Maybe not greatly attractive from all of their base's perspective, but in terms of reaching to the middle it might have had some sucess.

And if it is new ... is this possibly something the DUP asked for ? Was it in their manifesto ?

Manifesto.

Ive just been served my 2 months notice as the landlord has sold the house. It was completely unexpected.
We are going through referencing on a less than ideal property but its the only one to rent in the school area. We have so far paid out
£350 non refundable holding cost
£150 referencing charge (each )
Next we have to cough up £4000 deposit

This is before van rental, boxes, time off work, postal redirection etc etc
This wasn't our choice, the landlord was completely within his rights, i get it. But it doesnt make it easier to financially (or emotionally)

I support this ban.

In our area, LA fees were called admin fees. The increase in admin fees came about when deposits had to be placed in TDS schemes. As long as LAs called them admin fees instead of a deposit, the agents could use the money for their cash flow.

I do feel that Lamdlords and tenants were at the mercy of letting agents. Therefore, this will allow the letting agents that are decent and law abiding will emerge. Our area has seen an increase in letting agents that have cropped up everywhere. And some are highly unscrupulous.

Fruitbat1980
Unfortunately all it will mean is rents rise to cover the shortfall (I know a letting agent- he's already said they'll have to as letting agents won't do what they do for free and the home owners won't pay for it themselves. Not saying I agree with it just what he said (his biggest landlords have already confirmed this and put in place notes for rent
Rise to cover)

If landlords are saying this then they are arseholes, Part of my rent pays the agency management fees and it is not these that are the ones being banned.