Shelter Scotland is launching a campaign to help private sector tenants reclaim fees which it claims are being unlawfully charged by rip-off letting agents.
In Scotland, agents are banned from charging ‘unlawful premiums’. The Scottish Government is currently consulting on clarifying the law, so that people know exactly what these are.
However, Shelter says that agents are deliberately misinterpreting the existing law, as in the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984, and exploiting ‘thousands’ of people.
It is launching a website, encouraging tenants to write to their letting agent and asking them to return fees that they should not have been charged.
The site says private tenants can reclaim charges for services such as credit checks, reference checks, preparing and checking an inventory, and other up-front fees.
Alongside the website, a Reclaim Your Fees campaign team will tour Scotland’s largest cities and universities to give tenants advice on unlawful fees.
Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “More than 272,650 families and individuals in Scotland call the private rented sector home, and that number is rising.
“That some letting agents – established and new – are routinely ripping off tenants by charging extortionate and unjustified upfront fees is shocking and quite simply exploitative.
“They are not only ripping off people who need a roof over their head and who, in many cases, have little or no choice but to pay up, but they are also undermining the work of good letting agents who offer a fair deal to tenants.’”
www.reclaimyourfees.com
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