This November 2016, the British Government announced it was planning to ban fees charged by letting agents to consumers.
These fees are meant to cover such things as administration fees, drawing up the agreement, referencing the potential tenants, etc.
Interestingly, these fees are already banned in Scotland, and in England, letting agents have been legally obliged to communicate these fees systematically and transparently since 2016.
Whilst, on paper, this is very good news for our clients, we have no doubt that neither letting agents nor landlords will absorb these cost entirely, and that they will be reflected in increased rental prices, ultimately paid by the tenants.
In London, where the property market is still very much a landlord’s market, we have no doubt that this is what will happen.
