Member Article

Ban on fees prompts questions from landlords

Following Chancellor Phillip Hammond’s Autumn Statement, there has been a lot of confusion relating to the abolishment of fees that tenants are charged when they rent homes in England. With uncertain times ahead, leading estate agent Dacre Son & Hartley has been inundated with queries from landlords who are seeking advice on the implications of the changes.

Harry Hall Head of Residential, Rural and Commercial Property Management Finance at Dacre Son & Hartley, which manages a portfolio of more than 500 properties across its 20 North and West Yorkshire says: “It’s fair to say that the majority of letting agents do not profit from fees. Our research shows that the average fee charged by members of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) is £202 per tenant, which we think is reasonable price, and far from exploitative for the service tenants receive.

“These costs enable agents to carry out various critical checks on tenants before letting a property. If fees are banned, these costs will no doubt need be passed onto landlords, who will need to recoup the costs elsewhere, inevitably through higher rents. The banning of fees therefore has the potential to hurt those people they are supposedly trying to help.

“Our current fees for a tenancy application are £200 including VAT for one tenant with an extra charge of £50 including VAT per additional tenant. We believe in transparency, and for the volume of work involved in setting up a tenancy, we feel this is a fair cost for our service which protects both our tenants and landlords.

“Realistically, this ban is not going to be implemented with immediate effect, but it will happen, and the industry is pushing for more detail and timeframes. One thing that is certain however, is that the quality service we provide to our landlords and tenants will not change.

“As an ARLA member, we will do our upmost to continue providing an industry recognised standard. The future of the private rental sector will undoubtedly undergo a period of change, but the fact remains that both landlords and tenants have always benefitted from using professional, ARLA registered agents, that stick to a strict code of conduct and are regulated – and that is not going to change in the future.” With 20 offices and 164 members of staff across North and West Yorkshire, Dacre, Son & Hartley is Yorkshire’s largest independent estate agent. For further information visit www.dacres.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Mortimer .