PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Letting Agents: Fees and Charges (9 July 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 9 July 2020 to Question 68414 on Letting Agents: Fees and Charges, what assessment he has made of (a) the potential inefficacy of the provisions in the Tenant Fees Act 2019 in relation to preventing office and administrative costs being (i) improperly, (ii) excessively and (iii) arbitrarily passed to tenants by lettings agents; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals to (b) stop the charging of those costs.

Asked by:
Darren Jones (Labour)

The Tenant Fees Act 2019 bans unfair fees paid by tenants in the private rented sector in England. This includes most office or administration costs such as referencing, administration, inventory, renewal and check-out fees. Such fees are prohibited payments, and charging them to the tenant is a breach of the Tenant Fees Act.

Letting agents or landlords that are found to have committed a breach of the Act will be liable for a £5,000 fine in the first instance, and if a further breach is committed within five years they will be liable for up to a £30,000 fine, as an alternative to prosecution. The Act is enforced by local enforcement authorities, normally trading standards, who are supported with advice and information by a lead enforcement authority.

The Act created this new Lead Enforcement Authority to support action against rogue agents. The Secretary of State has appointed the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team to this role, and has provided them over £1,000,000 per annum in funding since the Act came into force.

The Government has no current plans to bring forward further legislation at this time.

Answered by:
Christopher Pincher (Independent)
17 July 2020