Two new toolkits have been launched to help agents with the ban on tenant fees which comes into force in England on June 1.

ARLA Propertymark has launched one, and the second is from the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.

The ARLA toolkit is available to members and contains ten factsheets covering all aspects of the ban, a series of 18 short films, and legal document templates.

These include an updated tenancy agreement with Tenant Fees Act compliant sections on default fees and a new deposit clause.

Agents will also have access to new fee templates, and a template variation of contract to use during the transition period that will incorporate fees into existing ASTs.

For holding deposits, there are template letters for when they need to be refunded, when it is forfeited, for transferring it into the first month’s rent and for when agents need more than 15 days to get everything sorted.

ARLA will add a factsheet for agents to give landlords which will explain why their costs are changing.

Meanwhile, TDS has introduced a suite of tools for agents to access, to help them comply with the new deposit cap which also comes in on June 1.

From then on landlords and letting agents in England will only be legally allowed to take the equivalent of five weeks’ rent as a tenancy deposit on annual rents below £50,000, and the equivalent of six weeks’ rent if the annual rent is £50,000 or more on any new or renewed tenancies. Any landlords or letting agents in England found to be in breach of the new legislation could face a fine of up to £5,000.

The new regulations will apply to new and renewed tenancies beginning on and following June 1.

Tenancies will only fall under the cap if they are renewed for a new fixed term. Tenancies that become contractual or statutory periodic tenancies will not be affected.

TDS’s suite of information and tools includes an online deposit cap calculator.

As well as being free to use, the calculator is also available for letting agents to embed in their own websites.

A significant new feature is the TDS custodial deposit cap solution.

This is a new ‘edit deposit amount’ function where a landlord or letting agent can increase or decrease the deposit amount if they need to repay a deposit above the cap after June 1.

Where a new fixed term tenancy is created the landlord/agent can simply change the deposit amount down to the new five or six week level and TDS will sort out the repayments back to the lead tenant.

When the deposit has been reduced, a new deposit protection certificate in the new amount will be available in the member’s online account. As with the TDS insured scheme, no new Prescribed Information has to be issued in these circumstances.

The not-for-profit deposit protection scheme has also created a dedicated deposit cap resource centre, hosting a suite of information on the incoming legislative changes.

The resource centre includes the deposit cap calculator, a graphical timeline, example scenarios, guides, information and other tools to help provide clarity on how the deposit cap will affect letting agents and landlords, and how to reduce the deposit they hold whether they use TDS’s Insured or Custodial scheme.

Rebecca Johnston, managing director of TDS Custodial, said: “Despite the Tenant Fees Act coming into force shortly , there is still confusion in the market about how, exactly, it will affect people.

“One of the most common issues we’re seeing among landlords and letting agents is how the five weeks’ rent could be miscalculated, meaning some could inadvertently be caught on the wrong side of the law come June.

“It’s not simply a case of one and a quarter months’ rent. That’s why we’ve created our deposit cap calculator to take the confusion out of the process.”

ARLA chief executive David Cox said: “With less than 40 working days to go until the ban comes into effect, agents need to ensure they’re compliant with the law, and both landlords and tenants understand what it means for them.”

ARLA also has some useful tips online:

http://www.arla.co.uk/news/april-2019/tenant-fee-ban-10-tips/

www.depositcap.com