A ban on letting agents’ fees in Scotland has not resulted in raised rents, claims Shelter.
Shelter attacked LSL’s report last week that rents had gone up after the ban in late 2012, saying that the property group’s claims were “tenuous at best” and accused LSL of making “sweeping claims”.
And Shelter made it clear that it continues to oppose fees charged to tenants in England.
Within the last few days, the Chartered Institute for Housing and Resolution Foundation have jointly called for a ban on fees.
Martha Mackenzie, who works in Shelter’s public affairs office in London, said that LSL’s own figures did not stack up against its claim that rents in Scotland had gone up because of the ban.
She said that LSL had reported a 2.3% hike in Scottish rents over a 21-month period.
However, LSL had also said that rents in north-west England had gone up 3%.
She said: “We know that housing costs are high. This is especially true for private renters.
“The government’s own figures show that the average renting household currently spends 40% of their weekly income on housing costs.
“When starting a tenancy, renters are faced with huge upfront costs. Unpredictable letting fees are piled on top of deposits and rent in advance. This cost burden can be crippling.”
She concluded: “That’s why Shelter – and the majority of renters – continue to support a ban on letting fees.”
This is part of Shelter's leftie political agenda where businesses are supposed to provide their services free to the poor oppressed tenant. By all means let's have fees transparency (already a legal requirement) but who else works for free ? And as for Shelter accusing LSL of making "sweeping claims" – the words, pot, kettle, black spring to mind….
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Well said marcH. The problem seems to me to be Government's failure to police the laws it makes. Fee transparency is widely flouted, for a start. So you get a bunch of us silly sods who work hard to follow the law, investing time and money in doing so; and then you get the rest who either do nothing, or "find ways round it". And, it seems, our Government do nothing; letting down the tenants they are supposed to be helping, as well as us "silly sods", not to mention themselves!
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