The government has banned letting agent fees

Across all of England and Wales


Letting agent’s fees have been banned across England and Wales.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond announced in his 2016 Autumn Statement earlier today that tenants will no longer have to accept fees from letting agents.

The fees are normally used for administrative work like printing out tenancy agreements, but often cost over £100 per tenant.

The shift will see landlords paying the costs instead of tenants and may cause competition between landlords to shop around for the cheapest agency.

The plan is expected to save over 4 million households hundreds of pounds a year.

However, landlords are unhappy and have pledged to raise rent of their properties in response to the new policy.

Currently fees in big cities are much higher than those in the countryside, but across England and Wales last year, it was made legal to publicise all fees made to the tenant.

Fees can normally range from administration to immigration, and often have to be paid on top of the price of the deposit and rent.