Work on the principle that absolutely every penny a tenant pays is unlawful, unless it is actively allowed by the legislation. The things that are actively allowed are:
• Rent
• Utility bills
• A holding deposit capped at one week's rent
• A security deposit capped at five or six weeks' rent, depending on the annual aggregate rent of the property
• Rent arrears
• The cost of replacing a lost key or other security devices
• Variation to the contract, capped at £50 including VAT
• A green deal payment or other energy efficiency charges
• Administration fees
• Application fees
• Set-up fees
• Contract negotiation fees
• Referencing fees
• Check-ins
• Check-outs
• Renewal fees
• Saturday move-in fees
• End-of-tenancy fees
• Inventory fees
No, you can't charge for professional cleaning - that's actually been illegal since 1977 under the Unfair Contract Terms Act. All you can say is that a property must be returned in the state that it was at the beginning of the tenancy.
No. It’s called the Tenant Fees Bill but they’ve pretty much entirely removed the word “tenant” from the bill - what they talk about is a relevant person and a relevant person is anyone that’s involved in the granting, continuation, renewal or termination of a contract. It includes prospective tenants, actual tenants, guarantors, etc. It’s exceedingly widely drafted.
No. The ban doesn’t just apply to letting agents, it applies to landlords as well and third parties, such as referencing agencies. So whilst we talk about it as a lettings fee ban, it’s more a PRS fees ban, so it doesn’t just apply to letting agents.
No, you will not be able to charge the tenant for Right to Rent checks - the landlord or the agency will have to pick up those costs. However, if the tenant fails a Right to Rent check, that is a reason for withholding the holding deposit, because an applicant should know if they’re going to fail and have therefore deliberately wasted an agent’s time and money.
Yes, you will be able to charge an early surrender fee. That fee can not be more than the total rent outstanding on the property, it should be reasonable. The government has suggested that agents will be able to charge the landlord's costs in reletting the property, plus the amount of rent owing until the new tenant moves in, up to a maximum of the total rent outstanding on the property.
All you can charge is interest on rent arrears, and that interest charge is calculated at 3% above the Bank of England's base rate from the date the rent falls due, until the date it is paid. However, you can't levy that charge unless the tenant is at least 14 days in arrears. So if they're 10 days late paying rent, you can't levy the interest charge. If they're 15 days late paying rent, you can levy the interest charge, and you can backdate it to when it fell due. You will need to change that interest clause in your tenancy agreements.
Yes, that comes under the damages provisions of the act, which says you can charge the tenant for returning the property to the condition it would have been in, had the tenant not breached the tenancy agreement. So, for example, if a tenant blocks a toilet with nappies, the landlord does need to fix the problem, but you can bill the tenant immediately. So effectively bill the tenant for the contractor call-out to come and fix it. If the tenant refuses, you can either take them to the small claims court then or when the tenancy's ended, or, which is probably the most likely, you can deduct it from their deposit at the end of the tenancy. But you can only deduct it from the deposit at the end of tenancy if the tenancy agreement allows you to that - you must make sure that the deposit clause in your tenancy agreement allows deductions for damages.
Yes, you can - the law is not retrospective. The ban will only affect contracts which are signed on or after 1st June. You can continue charging fees for any contracts signed before 1st June and any fees associated with that tenancy can still be charged for a period of 12 months after the ban comes into force. This means the last date of chargeable fees for existing tenancies will be 31st May 2020. But, if the tenancy renews during that period, that becomes a new tenancy, which means all fees will be banned, because that will be classed as a new tenancy.
Yes, the Consumer Rights Act and fee transparency rules are not going away so landlords will still have to display all their fees prominently. In relation to tenant fees, you're actually going to need two sets of fee schedules come the 1st June - one for new tenancies and one for tenancies entered into before the ban.
Take a holding deposit. You will be able to take up to one week’s rent as a holding deposit on the property, which you can hold for 15 days. If the landlord pulls out you will have to give that holding deposit back. If the tenant’s application is successful, you’ll also have to give that back. However, if the tenant pulls out during the application process, they’ll forfeit their holding deposit. That has been done very deliberately to stop tenants applying for multiple properties and then deciding which one they’ll have.
There are four grounds on which holding deposit can be withheld:
• If the tenant pulls out of the tenancy before the contracts are signed.
• If the tenant fails a Right to Rent check. You are not lawfully as agents and landlords allow to let property to somebody that doesn't have the right to live in the United Kingdom.
• If the tenant provides false or misleading information - this does not mean failing referencing. If a tenant provides completely accurate information, but still fails referencing, that will be classed as the landlord or agent pulling out, then you will have to return holding deposit. However, if they have actively lied and you can prove they have actively lied, you can withhold the holding deposit.
• If the tenant doesn't enter the agreement by the deadline. If the tenant is dragging their feet and not responding to emails, not giving the referencing agency what they need for longer than 15 days, they would also forfeit the holding deposit. But if it’s the agent or the landlord that’s dragging their feet and that goes beyond 15 days, they would have to give it back.
We’re expecting the guidance to say that as long as the tenancy continues after the introduction of the ban on 1st June, you won’t be expected to retrospectively give back one, two or three weeks rent, depending on the length of the deposit you’ve taken. However, if the tenancy renews, anything in excess of five weeks will become a prohibited payment and you would have to refund it. For example if you’ve taken a six-week deposit and the tenancy renews on 1st January 2020, you will have to give back that extra week.
No - the deposit cap is an absolute cap, you can’t charge more. You will need to look at other options. There’s nothing in the law that says you can’t charge increased rents for pets, for example, so you could put a pet premium on the rent at £10, £20 a week. But if you do, you will need to disclose these premiums under the Consumer Protection Regulation Act of 2008 - so you’ll need to put them in your advertisements otherwise you’re likely to be breaching these regulations.
Yes, but only if it’s optional - the tenant must have a choice between paying a five-week refundable deposit or a non-refundable insurance premium.
The level of the penalties means there will be a massive incentive on local authorities to enforce the new legislation. If an enforcement officer comes into a branch and finds that fees are being charged, it’s not one £5000 fine, it’s a £5000 fine per fee. If that fee consists of an element of referencing, contract negotiation and inventory, that won’t be one fee. That will be three fees. That is just for the first offence - if the enforcement authority comes back and finds the agency is still charging fees, it will be a £30,000 fine per fee or a criminal prosecution, which is an unlimited fine and ban.
