Banning Letting Agent Fees Paid By Tenants, A Consultation Paper

What’s The Update?
The banning letting agent fees paid by tenants, a consultation paper was released today (7th April) from the Government.

What is it?
Essentially, this consultation paper consists of; a current overview of the rental sector and how present procedures, practices and regulations of fees affect the market. The consultation goes on to outline the Government’s proposal, along with what steps will that be put in place to enforce the ban.

Who will be affected?
This development is really quite a drastic change which could potentially change the face of England’s rental sector, subsequently, this will affect Landlords, Agents and Tenants.

• Landlords
Landlords will be responsible for covering the cost of fees charged by a letting agent opposed to passing these on to the tenant. This could result in landlords seeing a decrease in the return they receive from their properties.

• Letting Agents
As stated in the consultation paper, agents may find themselves having to evaluate business models to accommodate these changes. And, not forgetting to mention there will be an increased competition across agents for the business of landlords.

• Tenants
Potentially this situation is meant to be seen as a large benefit to tenants as they will no longer have the burden of paying out more than expected at the start of tenancies. However, there is strong evidence from ARLA that in the long run, tenants may find these changes causing increased costs in rent.

So, What’s Next?
At the end of the consultation paper, the Government have presented readers with a questionnaire to have their own say on the situation and how these changes will be implemented.
This questionnaire is open to Landlords, Agents, Tenants and parties that are interested in the subject area. We encourage our readers to see this as a valuable opportunity to have your own say on these current proposals, as it provides a valuable chance for the Government to receive more industry-specific insights.

Further Resources for you
As the aim of this article is to provide you with a quick, easy to digest news update regarding this monumental development here are the valuable resources we have put together for your convenience and educational purposes:

The consultation paper:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/607001/Banning_letting_agent_fees_paid_by_tenants_consultation.pdf

The Survey 
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/dclglet

Agent and Landlords
http://www.arla.co.uk/news/march-2017/letting-fee-ban-will-hit-loyal-tenants-hardest/

http://www.arla.co.uk/lobbying/letting-agent-fees/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38065249

Tenants
http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/news/politics/make-renting-fair-why-were-calling-for-the-end-of-letting-agent-fees-20160362685

http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/news/politics/ban-on-letting-agents-fees-20161165733

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