16th
Aug 2017
Hackney Council has recently written to the government strongly urging it to introduce the ban on letting fees for tenants with immediate effect.
The council is plainly exasperated by the government's apparent apathy of releasing a timescale for the implementation of the ban and is 'quietly demanding' that at least the date should be finally disclosed.
The banning of letting fees was first 'heralded' by the government over a year ago and costs for signing tenancy agreements and other 'additional' charges will become unlawful in England. In the Queen's speech the Draft Tenants' Fees Bill was mentioned, amongst many new legislatures that will be introduced in this government's tenure, but failed to include its start date.
The letter from the Mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville addressed to housing minister Alok Sharma, asked for when the ban will come into force and requested reassurances that the government has no intention of diluting the original proposals in the Draft Bill.
Prior to the correspondence being sent to the housing minister, the council had already asked letting agents in their 'patch' to stop charging tenants fees voluntarily.
The council states that 32,000 private renters in their boundaries as paying on average £400 in tenancy letting fees and some have to pay as much as £500. Average rent for a two-bedroomed home in Hackney is £1,820 per month which is more than £300 higher than the average price paid in 2011 and that the fees.... “are contributing to private rents becoming increasingly unaffordable even for people on middle incomes."
Richard Merrick of PIMS, said: "The government has made it known of their plans of banning fees, however there is no date of it coming into force. It is more than likely that other councils will start to demand a start date but, as we all know, it can take some time before a government's plan gets off the starting ramp."
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