Expect one thing to happen as a result of this - letting agency fees for landlords to rise.
Agents will look to recoup income by either increasing charges to landlords for letting a property or by increasing management fees, or a bit of both.
The Government clearly feels the need to continue its re-balancing of the tenant / landlord wealth divide in the economy.
One positive we might take, is the economy's reliance that residential property prices are maintained / propped up in the medium to long term.
The house of cards appears to be getting its base stuck down with a glue gun.
Landlords can of course avoid Letting Agent Fees altogether by DIY.
More comment on the ban on letting agency fees for tenants -
“I can announce today that we will ban [letting] fees to tenants as soon as possible” #AutumnStatement pic.twitter.com/Y9u3ZEFtzC— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) November 23, 2016
Chancellor will introduce a ban on letting agents imposing fees on tenants "as soon as possible" #AutumnStatement pic.twitter.com/5Enn8yxsOO— BBC Business (@BBCBusiness) November 23, 2016
Lettings agents’ main incentive is well aligned https://t.co/3WQOaEY4AJ #property
— Property PR (@propertypr) November 24, 2016
Letting Fee Bombshell Hits Private Rented Sector https://t.co/tWHLgqAoYW pic.twitter.com/UgKaa5QSqm— NLA (@nationalandlord) November 23, 2016
Consultation on fees ban to be launched in the New Year https://t.co/LILjSrMHjT #property via @PropIndEye
— NALScheme (@NALScheme) November 24, 2016
Autumn statement: Hammond to crack down on letting fees https://t.co/H5JxXzD4vT pic.twitter.com/iO4S9J46wn— Tessa Shepperson (@TessaShepperson) November 23, 2016
Landlords can avoid becoming villains of the tenants fee crackdown > client @jeremyleaf comments https://t.co/MsJtbWsiJA via @ThisIsMoney
— Melanie Bien (@melaniebien) November 24, 2016
In today's Autumn Statement, the government is set to announce a ban on letting agent fees. Great news for the country's millions of renters pic.twitter.com/XsqkX0Cf6u— Shelter (@Shelter) November 23, 2016
Ban on letting agent fees announced by UK Chancellor could backfire and lead to higher rents: full industry reactionhttps://t.co/IIIZT7L6Xq— Property Wire (@PropertyWire) November 23, 2016
Letting agents hit by tenant fees ban warned against hiking charges > client @jeremyleaf comments https://t.co/NnsdDTea5j via @ThisIsMoney— Melanie Bien (@melaniebien) November 23, 2016
They'll pay somewhere along the way. https://t.co/I1KB063X7L— The Negotiator (@TheNeg) November 23, 2016
Banning letting fees is good news for renters but here’s what’s needed to unlock private renting for homeless people https://t.co/lKKj3aMLDF
— CrisisPrivateRenting (@PrivateRenting) November 24, 2016
Take advantage of our discounted landlord insurance ratesNALS responds to news that Government intends to ban lettings agents fees in today's #Autumn Statement https://t.co/CgC5QctlqA #property— NALScheme (@NALScheme) November 23, 2016
This is bad news all round.
ReplyDeleteIf a prospective tenant fails a reference check he or she will presumably shop around to find some mug who doesn't do one, at no cost to themselves.
Likewise even after passing the check they can just walk away, leaving the agent/landlord out of pocket.
As a landlord and previously a tenant,I feel this is fair,agents have been ripping off vulnerable tenants for ages,If this causes a problem then the agent should bill the landlord for their fee,but you watch landlords will then complain,I feel as landlords we have to be fair,tenants are already paying sky high rents.
ReplyDeleteAs a landlord I've yet to assess the impact of the Chancellor's decision. Obviously he feels there is a problem here that needs addressing. No one sould pay £200 for a £16 reference check if that is true. However if I am to let a property I need to establish that the tenant can pay the rent and I don't think it is incumbant on the landlord to demonstrate this.
ReplyDeleteAll that's going to happen is rent costs will rise.
ReplyDeleteLetting agents will pass the cost on to landlords, who in turn will pass the cost on to tenants. So tenants will end up paying anyway. However, this will remove any doubt about who the letting agent is working for.
ReplyDeleteI've had letting agents who seem more interested in knocking the rent down than finding decent tenants who will pay the going rate. This move will make it unambiguously clear - letting agents are the landlord's bitch.
This isn't really in the interests of tenants, but of course the Tories will spin it as them being on the side of the poor, and the press will just love it because everyone likes having a go at landlords.
The Tories' true agenda is to get small landlords out of the picture so that the entire PRS is held by big corporate landlords.