Fair and square: tenant fees

The Chancellor announced a ban on tenant fees in his Autumn Statement, but as David Reed, Operations Director of Antony Roberts explains, not all lettings agencies are the same

As a child and parent, I’ve watched an episode or two of Scooby Doo over the years. The memory serves that after some wagon-hopping, tunnel-chasing mayhem, the finale always seemed to feature the unmasking of the unscrupulous theme park owner who would have “gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for those pesky kids”. I’ve been curiously reminded of this – with a tenuous parallel or two – by the post Autumn Statement furore.

The Chancellor left it late in the programme, concluding with the announcement of a ban on tenant fees as soon as possible. Whilst the media was reporting the Government’s intentions in the immediate lead up to his speech, the letting industry as a whole, like the theme park owner, had been caught pretty much unaware and red-faced.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but the reality is that the industry should have properly self-regulated to ensure all tenant costs were truly reasonable and clear. Whilst I cannot report a linear relationship, I would suggest the further that senior estate agency personnel are from actually engaging with clients on a daily basis, the higher the likelihood the lettings division is analysed in terms of variant income streams and add-ons wherever possible. Short-term targets and policies then pervade the company. This is true to treatment of landlords as well as tenants.

Letting agents have simply got away with it and where tenants are cited in examples as having paid more in admin fees than the first month’s rent, it is no wonder that intervention has been triggered.

However, to tarnish the whole industry with the same brush is unfair. Many agencies positively acknowledge the development of long-term relationships with tenants and have hitherto kept fees, in my mind, to a very reasonable level. In my opinion, our prospective tenants today are not only possible tenants next year, but future homeowners and investors. Our ethos is to generate and sustain long-term relations with current and prospective clients.

Looking ahead, all parties will need to wait for the period of consultation to reach enactment. In the meantime, the spotlight is on all agents to be just and clear with all fees and charges