From 1 June 2019, legislation has come into effect that will mean that landlords can no longer charge tenants fees. See below for a more detailed breakdown.
For all new (& renewal) tenancies:
- Total ban on any tenant or any person connected to that tenant paying any fees what so ever.
- You can insist on a guarantor as a condition of tenancy but cannot charge them to facilitate that.
- Cannot charge higher rent for first month to cover – rent must remain the same for the term.
- You cannot charge a former tenant, or anyone acting on their behalf, for a reference.
- No set up fees to be paid by the tenant.
- No 3rd party fees to be paid by the tenant (inventory, referencing, compulsory insurance provider).
- No tenant check out fees, unless early termination by tenant & then it must be ‘reasonable costs’ and detailed in the AST.
The only permitted payments are:
- Utility Bills.
- Tenancy deposit which will be capped at 5 weeks rent.
- Holding deposit of 1 weeks rent – which must be returned to the tenant within 15 days, (or longer if agreed in writing by them, for example if previous tenant has not yet vacated on application) unless they fail to proceed and it’s their fault (false information, fail to engage and proceed, fail Right to Rent check) but not if they provide correct information and fail referencing.
- Tenant default fees for arrears, these must be in AST and advertised and within strict set limits.
From 1 June 2020 these rules will apply to all existing tenancies also:
Tenancy Deposit:
Now restricted to 5 weeks rent.
- Any renewals undertaken after 1 June where we hold a higher deposit, the difference has to be returned to the tenant on renewal.
- Cannot take higher deposits for pets but can charge increased rent for pets – so long as it is for the whole term but must be clearly advertised as amount of rent without pet and amount of rent with.
- You cannot charge higher rent for first month then reduce.