7th
Nov 2016
As previously reported, the Renters’ Rights Bill which contains clauses for eliminating agents' fees along with reducing the amount of deposits and compulsory registration of landlords, is returning for its final reading in the House of Landlords next week.
As the Renters' Rights Bill is only a Private Member's Bill it is highly unlikely to become law, however it tables a motion to alter the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 by stopping landlords in England charging fees on 'hopeful' tenants and existing ones. Its aims include banning fees for registration, reference checks, inventory checks, exit or renewals and administration charges.
Peer Baroness Grender is responsible for the Private Renters' Rights Bill that also the proposes an automatic ban for any landlord or agent who are listed as a 'rogue operator', from being awarded an HMO (Houses in Multiple Occupation) licences. At its second reading in the House of Lords in June, it achieved a high level support across all parties when debated.
It has just been announced that the measure will go through a more detailed hearing in the committee stage, at the House of Lords on November 18th.
In the previous debate in June, Baroness Grender claimed that private rental tenants have considerable less consumer protection than in the majority of other commercial sectors and said that private tenants are "often at the mercy of landlords and lettings agents."
Baroness Grender also told the Lords that : “It is time for Government intervention to address this imbalance of power and build up the consumer rights of renters" she claims.
“Letting agents should not be able to get away with double charging fees, imposing them on both tenants and landlords, when in fact it is only the landlord that is the client."
Scotland has already banned agents' charging fees on tenants and if the Bill becomes law then it will only apply to England.
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