Housing minister Gavin Barwell has failed to address concerns that the tenant fee ban will cause letting agents to pass on costs to landlords or just redefine charges.
A written parliamentary question was asked to Barwell at the beginning of December by Conservative MP Dr Andrew Murrison, seeking clarification from the minister on “what steps he is taking to ensure that private letting agencies do not (a) transfer costs to landlords and (b) redefine tenant fees”.
Responding, Barwell said: “The Government is keen to see tenants receiving a good service from their landlord and letting agent, and that is why we announced in the Autumn Statement a ban on letting agent fees paid by tenants in England.
“This will support better competition in the market and bring down overall costs. Tenants will be better able to search around for properties that suit their budget and there will be no hidden costs.
“This may be preferable to tenants being hit with upfront charges that can be difficult for them to afford. The Government will consult in the New Year on the detail of how best to implement a ban.”
It may well be that Barwell is now a little more shy about sharing his views on housing after previously signalling opposition to such plans. He has previously tweeted that fee bans are a “bad idea” as landlords would pass the cost to tenants via rent.
However, he made a quick U-turn after the Autumn Statement, with a new tweet stating: “It is the nature of the job that you have to defend current policy even when you are working to change it.”
Comments (9)
Just let a property after two failed applicants.
Both wasted my time, both had CCJs each.
I have had a lot of time wasted, which is bad enough when the tenants are paying.
How much time am I going to waste if an application is free?
Unbelievable – does this dimwit and his pen pushing cronies bother to think about or read what he ( supposedly ) says – IF tenant fees are banned then from a tenants perspective it wont make any difference to them which agent they “shop around” to.
As is the case already they will still have to rent through the agent with the property that they want.
Banning tenant fees has effectively removed any element of choice /leverage that the tenants ever had with letting agents at the same time as removing the duty of care that most decent Letting Agents have towards a tenant because they do actually pay them a tenants fee.
Theresa May sunk in my estimations when she and Hammond rolled out this ill considered crowd pleaser and as is often the case with ill considered government meddling they will end up damaging the interests of the very group they thought they were helping.
Lets work together to get them to see the light – Kevin Hollinrake MP – are you listening? !
I’ll bet Gavin Barwell isn’t in rented accommodation and hasn’t been since his Uni days! Another example of the commons hierarchy being completely out of touch with the ground floor of the shop.
What they need to do is move towards regulating the industry with the help of industry professional bodies and a panel of independent and corporate agents up and down the country, bringing in measures to eliminate bad practice by the rogue few that tarnishes the whole industry.
Utter nonsense, tenants can shop around agents anytime. What he means is they get a free meal ticket to mess with agents and landlords. Just like job interviews but with no CV/credentials.
Barnwell is a prat & he’s in charge!!
Well I guess he could be right and it may well increase competition but this will be by tenants seeking somewhere to live and the increased competition may well lead to increases in rent! It just makes me angry we waste so much money in funding these idiots and give them an easy life sitting in a nice warn historic building spouting nonsense.
Am I missing something here? If an agency has a property to let and a tenant wants it why would he/she shop around for cheaper fees with agents that don’t have that property? By the time they come back the property will have been let to 10 other tenants who won’t have paid a fee and are all expecting to move into 1/2 a million £’s worth of someone else’s property without paying a deposit because the government said they could!
It may be Barwell speaking the words but he didn’t come up with them. That has civil servant BS all over it.
The Policy is The Word and the Minister will preach it. Whether he likes it or not.
How about trying an industry disruptive track for politics….’say what you truly believe, and stick by it.’