The number of renters experiencing rent rises hit a record high in July, the second month after the introduction of the tenant fees ban in England.
ARLA said that tenants are still paying for banned fees – but now through rent hikes, just as it had warned.
An ARLA survey shows that 63% of agents reported that landlords raised rents in July, up from a record 55% in June, and far higher than the 31% in July last year.
Supply has also suffered, falling from 199 to 184 per branch on average between June and July, while demand fell from 73 to 70 prospective tenants over the same period.
David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark, said: “Following the Tenant Fees Act coming into force in June, rents have continued to rise, which we believed would happen.
“The fees agents have been banned from charging are still being paid for by tenants, however it’s now through their rent, rather than upfront costs.
“The fall in the number of properties available further increases competition in the market, which only pushes rents up or forces landlords to exit the market entirely.
“As the sector faces increased levels of legislation, it’s evident this is putting even more pressure on the industry.”
A fees ban is due to kick in in Wales this weekend. See our separate story.
Sorry ARLA, but claiming that rents are now going up because of the fee ban is not smart. What were agents doing previously for their client landlords? Were they not carrying out annual rent reviews back then? If I am a landlord I would be asking why there were not rent increases previously. As all corporate and franchise agents have always been very focused on rent reviews, I find this ARLA survey interesting. Does it suggest that the survey was primarily independents? Is the information on this survey or previous surveys accurate?
I do not believe ARLA are doing our industry any favours with announcements like this, they are just painting landlords and agents as money grabbing. Their energy would be better placed raising standards and investigating and prosecuting agents, whether members or not for stolen client money. That would really send a message out to the industry!
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Flock follower, ARLA do little if anything nowadays for their members other than take their money. They look after themselves, ensuring the directors get paid every month and, normally far too late issue a weak statement such as this one. If they really supported their members they would have battled tooth and nail against shelter and gen rent, they would have argued against Westminster but no, they wrote a letter and went on holiday leaving their members in the lurch.
The only thing that we can hope for is that when agents are required to have a recognised qualification ARLA are not in the running to provide and that a body that truly represents the members is chosen!
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Good point but on balance i.ceel ARLA were right to draw our slow thinking MPs to this fact.
Anything ARLA and others can do to show our meddling MPs they must leave our industry alone.must be good for both Landlords and Agents.
Most of the time MPs do this to. create a smokescreen to hide the appalling state of housing caused by them and their incompetent over paid civil servants.
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I think ARLA et al should be careful how they present this sort of data.
““The fees agents have been banned from charging are still being paid for by tenants, however it’s now through their rent, rather than upfront costs.” – could imply that the best thing to do to protect tenants is to impose some sort of rent controls.
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Politicians and Civil servants would have anticipated this possibility that they can regulate through further legislation providing some form of rent control. This would be a popular move with some voters and satisfy the short term aspirations of the political class that far outweighs the need for a sensible long term housing policy for all sectors of the industry.
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I understand some of the criticism that some have placed at ARLA’s feet. I agree that they didn’t react quick enough or engage early enough for MP’s to have any respect for the industry; That is why they have treated us all with contempt. However, where ARLA excelled themselves was to produce a toolkit that enabled members to prepare and be fully compliant with the Tenant Fee Act.
Credit where it is due. (I know the maxim ‘after the horse has bolted’ but at least I have it in the stable).
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Well, that is a surprise. Who would have guessed??
everyone.
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