Philip Hammond announces that Letting agents will be banned from charging tenants letting agency fees “as soon as possible”.
During his Autumn Statement speech, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, officially announced the widely expected plan that Letting agents would be banned from charging tenants fees for certain administrative activities, such as reference checks and immigration checks, and that these costs would be shifted onto landlords.
By many, particularly young people – sometimes known as Generation Rent – this is seen as a positive step forward. In large cities, and particularly in London, rents are becoming higher, and more and more people are struggling to find suitable and sustainable housing.
But some say this measure is treating a symptom rather than a cause, that more houses urgently need to be built, and that with an increase in supply of housing, both buying homes and renting will become cheaper.
Nevertheless, many see the banning of letting agency fees as a move in the right direction, and towards a more secure and less precarious position for many renters across the capital and other large urban areas.
The unknown when it comes to this move is what the response of landlords will be. With letting agency fees being passed to them, will many landlords decide to put up the rents that they charge to compensate for these additional fees?