Labour is trying to have a maximum tenant’s deposit of just three weeks’ rent.
Melanie Onn, shadow housing minister, said in a tweet yesterday: “Labour is fighting for a new three-week limit for rent deposits.
“The current deal for private renters is unacceptable – Labour in government would do more to protect them.”
Under proposals in the Tenants Fees Bill, the maximum deposit that could be charged would be capped at six weeks’ rent.
Yesterday, ARLA Propertymark chief executive David Cox told EYE: “As I laid out to the Public Bill Committee on Tuesday, the purpose of the deposit is to mitigate against unpaid rent and damage to the property.
“Many tenants do not pay the last month’s rent which is then covered by the security deposit.
“This amendment won’t allow for that, which risks leaving a landlord without the full final month’s rent or repairs for any damage.
“It’s not clear how this proposal of three weeks’ deposit has been worked out.”
The Bill has had its second reading in the Commons and is currently in committee stage, receiving oral and written evidence.
It will receive submissions until 5pm next Tuesday (June 12). These can be submitted to scrutiny@parliament.uk
Corbyn. Rebel without a clue.
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3 weeks rent on a £150 a week property wouldn’t even cover the cost of half the damage caused by some tenants.
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You can’t argue with populism. That’s why it’s popular. Trouble is in reality it’s another nail in the coffin of landlords.
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You can’t argue with populism. That’s why it’s popular.
Love it! – I will be using this from now on.
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Labour are really a silly bunch of idiots
They wish to reduce the deposit in-going to 3 weeks rent whilst attempting to introduce the “Right to Keep Pets” under their 50 point animal welfare manifesto.
Is there a chance of the pet causing damage to the rental property-er yes!
Labour has unveiled plans to give tenants the “right to pets” under its new 50 point animal welfare manifesto. Current rental laws enable landlords to specify that tenants are not allowed to keep pets in a property. But the new proposals would mean tenants would gain the automatic right to house their animals unless it can be proved they are a “nuisance”.
What a joke
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Why 3 weeks and what benefit does it offer tenants?
Removing tenant fees, reducing the deposit required only benefits the more able tenants. It simply widens the gap between their ability to pay and those who can’t. It gives those who can already secure a tenancy more money to spend.
The only way to help the less able is to provide more available property and this does not do that
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Robert – I rather suspect they are pitching 3 weeks, in the hope that 6 weeks is reduced to 4 weeks, then they’d say everyone is happy – which as we all know is tosh!
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Okay, enough is enough!
Every time one of these silly red lot opens their mouth more rubbish comes out, so I propose the following :-
1. Every MP along with all the tree hugging charity wallahs open their own houses up and allow in tenants who have not been subjected to any format of credit check or background check.
2. Each tenant is allowed to enter having paid just 3 weeks deposit.
3. Each tenant is given a 3 year contract.
4. Tenants may leave at any time without notice .
5. These “new” landlords must absorb all costs during and at end of tenancy such as rent arrears, court costs and damage without recourse to the tenants.
6. These “new” landlords must be forced to comply with all legislation relating to the property and must pay tax on the same basis as a current landlord assuming that they have a 50% ltv mortgage.
7. In the meantime current landlords and agents are not subjected to any further changes .
At the end of the 3 year tenancies each property is independantly assessed and landlords are interviewed by letting agents.
Then MPs can consider how workable their stupid ideas are and then we can all sit down and draft legislation that works!
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This sums it up pretty much.
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Which MP gave a dislike!
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Just wait till Corbyn introduces his tenants minimum 3 year protected rights tenancy agreements.
What a pathetic lot, they just haven’t got a clue and it is getting to the stage that common sense is not prevailing and it is nothing more than a personal vendetta by far left wing socialist (communists) that the public are stupid enough to vote into power and do they abuse that power.
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You’re all a bunch of ‘The Sun’ worshiping ‘Daily Mail’ regurgitating idiots!
You do know that there’s a big difference between being a socialist and being communist Woodentop? You guys all talk about damages to property, but do you think it’s right that Estate Agents have been known to charge as much as £50 just to remove a loaf of bread that was left behind by the tenant. And what about the tenants that do look after properties that then get penalised for things like that loaf of bread. What about tenants that don’t pay the rent for months on end? When that happens, the deposit money almost becomes irrelevant because the landlord is in much more debt than just the first 6 weeks rent.
Do you lot understand that there are MORE decent, hardworking people out there, who cannot afford to buy a property, so they have no choice but to rent, and they decent tenants. Lots of these people are on the absolute fine line of poverty, who then need to find 6 weeks rent, then the first months rent, then pay extortionate fees to letting agents! How are you meant to have that amount of cash laying around just to live in a decent place if you’re already on the line of just about managing. They just want a decent place to live! They’ll pay the rent and look after the place! If you actually looked at the amount of tenants that look after property compared to the amount that do not! You’ll find that the amount that do not look after property is a much smaller percentage, but we all decide to then tarnish every single person with the same brush.
Think more like a humanitarian and stop reading rubbish newspapers.
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Nextchapter – you make some interesting points. However there is currently protection for tenants against agents and landlords chraging the likes of £50 for the removal of a loaf of bread, under the tenancy deposit scheme. However, the protection has to cut both ways, in that the landlord deserves some protection too, from those tenants that don’t pay rent, that don’t look after the property etc etc.
Not all Landlords are multi-property owners, some if not most just have one property, and are in the same hard working bracket as those tenants you mention, and if it wasn’t for those millions of single property owner landlords stepping into the vacant shoes of social housing, and bailing sucessive governments out of a non exisitant housing policy, we’d be in a worse mess right now.
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Valid points and I agree.
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The fees charged by some Agents are extortionate, I doubt you will find any of us disagreeing. However we still have the right to get paid for our work, on a fair rate. This Ban is penalising those of us who have been charging a fair cost for years. And lets not forget that those who have bought a house have to pay a darn sight more to solicitors and mortgage lenders, as well as saving up a lot more for the deposit…
The Deposit is something that needs to be looked at, but not really for dropping the amount. At the moment, a Tenant doesn’t get the deposit back until (average) 2 weeks after they have left. Once the checkout has been done, report sent, any quotes needed are obtained etc. Meanwhile they have had to pay the deposit on the new place. Maybe speaking to the current Agent to get proof that the deposit is held, and having it in the contract that the Tenant will pay the difference if there are any stoppages etc? IE Agent A holds a deposit with DPS of £750. The deposit with Agent B needs to be £800, so the Tenant needs to pay £50 at the start, with a clause that they will make up any difference when Agent A transfers the deposit over to Agent B. Therefore Tenants will see the impact of not caring for a property/rent arrears and will not have to scrimp to get a ‘second’ deposit.
The Agents who charge £50 to remove bread are probably the same ones who charge £500 to apply, plus inventory. I went to do a checkout and spotted some milk in the fridge and some food, so I gave the tenant a quick call, and lobbed it in the bin. I was already there so it wasn’t a problem. But I’m not emptying bins etc, and if I have to arrange a contractor to go and clean it, then the Tenant will have to pay what they charge. If they don’t want to pay then they should have cleared it themselves.
All of this is because a few bad apples have ruined the barrel. Greedy Agents have caused the fee ban. Crappy Tenants have brought in the need for higher deposits. Lazy Tenants who don’t want to clean when they leave are causing issues for deposit stoppages (which are not done by Agents by the way).
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Again. I understand and agree. I think your reply makes sense and it was really objective. Just want a better fairer society for EVERYONE! I think that’s what everyone should strive for. Valid points regarding Agent A and B.
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I have contacted my MP (Tory) to see if I can meet with him to put forward some of these ideas.
Probably won’t happen, but at least I know I will have tried!
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There is a difference between socialism and communism but when the leader of the opposition and his shadow chancellor are on record as confirmed communists it’s hard to see them as anything else.
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In my over 25 years in the industry I reckon I’ve dealt with in the region of 10,000 tenancies.
Of that I would estimate that 98% of landlords I’ve dealt with are decent, hard working individuals who, by whatever means, ended up with a property to let out. They carry out maintenance when needed and provide a safe environment for tenants.
As with any industry there are rogue landlords and agents who will screw the tenant for whatever they can get and not repair faults. This (in Scotland) is what the tenancy deposit scheme, repairing standard, landlord registration were introduced to try and address.
However everytime ‘breadgate’ is rolled out as a ‘typical’ example of landlord and letting agent greed, I can cast my mind back to the house where there was so much dog faeces on the carpets that the landlord had to spend £1000’s to replace. Or the studio flat where 30 black bags of rubbish was removed after the tenant (a chef!) moved out. Or the several examples where tenants have done a moonlight with the whole house furnishings. Or my particular favourite when a tenant removed the bathroom suite.
Of course the Guardian readers (as we’re using stereotypes) will argue these are one off and isolated cases, which of course they are. However so is ‘breadgate’ therefore my message to nextchapter et al is don’t tar all landlords or agents with the same brush to try and further your argument. Also the tenant examples above are 100% true, therefore don’t dismiss them as a typical letting agent response……aka if you can’t take it, don’t dish it out.
I should also point out that I was a tenant in an earlier life as well but I worked hard to save money so I could afford to buy a property.
For those who will then say “ah but not everyone has the same opportunities in life” Sorry, I don’t have too much sympathy with that argument as I was brought up in a council flat in the wrong part of town but the difference was I didn’t assume society owed me anything……I went out and earned it.
That’s enough from me…..need to get back to my Daily Mail, Sun, Spectator and watch Fox News.
Ciao
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Repairing standard? I’m not familiar with that. Is that a minimum time that repairs must be carried out, or minimum standard of the property/repair?
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https://beta.gov.scot/publications/repairing-standard/
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That all seems fair enough. That’s the minimum I expect from my properties anyway! Unless there is unforseen damage and the Tenant HAS to move in, I try not to move someone into a property I wouldnt be happy to spend a week in!
I can see some of mine in period properties complaining about draughts from their Grade 2 listed sash windows though…
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If flies could vote, this bunch of lefty loonies would offering free chicken carcasses in their manifesto!!
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The main problem I see is that when you take equal to or less than 1-month rent as a deposit there is zero incentive to pay the last months rent before moving out, therefore leaving no deposit at all to cover costs. Zero LL protection.
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Why do they think most agents charge 6 weeks?
It makes no difference to the letting agent as they do not get the money. The reason it is there is because it is expensive getting a property in order after a poor tenant.
An oven clean can cost £100, carpets cleaned and be £200, bathroom and kitchen deep clean can be £200 we are already at £500 before sorting out lost keys, redecoration, missing appliances, last months rent they did not pay!!!
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Decent normal people/tenants don’t mind pay 6 weeks or even 2 months deposit, they know they will get it back……scambags are laughing at this news, they are loving it! What a joke!!!!!!
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