From tomorrow, it will be illegal for tenants in England to be charged letting fees, with deposits capped at five weeks’ rent.
Under the Tenant Fees Act, from Saturday 1st June 2019, landlords and letting agents in England will only be permitted to take the equivalent of five weeks' rent as a tenancy deposit on annual rents below £50,000 for new and renewed tenancies. But deposits will be capped at six weeks’ rent if the total annual rent is £50,000 or above.
The new law will not just mean a ban on letting fees, but also the majority of other upfront fees payable by tenants to rent a property in England.
The government believes that the Bill will make renting properties in England fairer and more affordable for tenants by reducing the costs at the outset of a tenancy, at the same time as improving transparency and competition in the private rental market.
The ban on fees charged by landlords and letting agents in Wales will be introduced in September.
From 1 September 2019, agents and landlords in Wales will no longer be able to charge fees to set up, renew or continue a standard occupation contract except those explicitly permitted by the Bill.
Under the new Act, holding deposits will be restricted to one week’s rent with provisions that ensure their prompt repayment.
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I cannot see the problem here, the extra costs incurred by the landlord will simply be factored into an increase in rent, the reduced deposit can be got over by insisting on a suitable guarantor, problems solved.
I have NEVER been able to source a guarantor for any of my tenants in 10 years of letting!!
I believe that these new deposit insurance schemes might be worth considering.
I believe you can cover 12 weeks of rent so that isn't bad at all!
But I do believe that all rents will increase even though many LL won't use LA.
Those that do will increase rents and self-managing LL will also increase rents.
I'm not sure but I would hazard a guess that at least 50% of LL use LA.
So working on the basis that most LA will charge LL more in management fees this must surely result in LL increasing rents.
So across the sector there will be a general uplift in rents.
I believe this happened in Scotland.
I believe rents are now 30% higher than they would be had it not been for tenant fee ban years ago.
There is simply no way LL will take the hit when they have additional cost burdens imposed on them.
Inevitably as always it will be the tenant that pays.
Something the PTB don't seem to understand.
If i require a guarantor i either have one, or take 6 months or a years rent in advance If neither i dont rent.
Crikey I have never been able to achieve that.
It was a struggle to get 2 month's worth of rent out of my tenants!!
You must have had some high net worth tenants..........lucky old you.
Very envious of you!!
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