New licensing fees are set to be published next month for Welsh letting agents.
Under the Rent Smart Wales scheme, all letting agents must have licences – currently costing £3,729 for five years.
The charge has caused uproar among smaller agencies in Wales, which may only have a tiny handful of homes on their books including landlords who may help other landlords or family members and not even see themselves as agents.
As the position currently is, they will have to pay the same fee as large businesses which deal with hundreds of rental properties.
Our story on Friday covered ARLA’s Freedom of Information request to find out how this charge was arrived at, and who had been consulted.
The response to the request showed that no agents, and no bodies representing agents or landlords, had been asked for their opinion or advice.
A City of Cardiff Council spokesperson has now told EYE: “Rent Smart Wales is keen to reflect on the comments received by smaller agents about the licence fee.
“We have been seeking views from interested parties and making refinements which will be published shortly.”
Following this new consultation, the new fee documents are likely to be published in March.
Comments (9)
Hi everyone, I came across this feed whilst doing some researching and notice that a lot of landlords feel that the charges put in place for rent smart wales registration are unfair.
I would like to put forward something and maybe have a discussion with some of you, thoughts and opinions if you will, to help build a bigger picture.
It really does seem unfair with what you have to pay for registration/courses/licences etc, but how unfair, or more tactfully, how does a landlord justify the high rents they charge, especially when someone that are on benefits can only get so much for rental costs. It would seem that the rental prices in private housing are set too high.
Just to give you a clear picture of myself, I work full time, I have a tidy job and I do rent privately so please bear in mind, this is not about me and I hold no grudges, however, there are a lot of tidy people out there that can’t settle anywhere because of the increasing rental costs.
It would be great if more people could buy their own homes but how can they save for their mortgage if they’re paying someone else’s and then paying on top so a landlord makes a bit of profit?
I’m hoping this will get people thinking and also please feel free to comment/discuss. I would really appreciate input.
Thanks,
FairVoice42
The letting agent bit is £100 training for every member of staff.
The agent training from Rent Smart Wales is a “long day” (starts 0900 and finishes at 1745) and costs £144, The training for landlords and agents is available from other providers too.
The justification of the fee is the question. A landlord licence fee is £33.50. The landlord to management their own property is £250 plus £100 half day training course (that last bit is a joke) then the big jump to nearly £4,000 (actually over as £100 per person training) for anyone else family, friend or letting agent and just to be on a register.
Not quite, the registration is £33.50 (if done online). If the landlord uses an agent, then there are no further costs for the landlord. If the landlord wants to manage the property themselves then they will need to have attended the training and get their own licence. The training is available through Rent Smart Wales at £100 and is a full day. The licence for a private landlord is also £100. If a landlord employs staff, then each of them will need to attend the landlord training for a day and at a cost of £100.
I’m told that Cardiff council will not be enforcing any licencing only maintaining a licence register. Enforcement will be left to the letting agents local councils and will not receive any money from Cardiff which is at conflict with the claims for being so expensive in Fridays story.
Where they really came unstuck is the bit in todays story highlighting that any person who is not the owner of the property and manages it in any shape or form will have to pay that letting agents fee. This I understand would apply to a relative looking after another relatives or friends house e.g. son or daughter managing mums rented house, who is now in nursing care and using the income to offset expenses … got very expensive! Mum requires a licence, son or daughter requires a letting agents licence and pay £100 to go on a half training course. Total £3862.50 and goes up another £100 if both children look after the property.
They must adopt a tiered system of fees if they want to be seen to be fair. We shall see………
Just to clarify, yes a son looking after the mother’s property has to license as an agent, but there is a “single person” agent aimed specifically at this and costing £144. The son would also have to pay £144 for the Rent Smart Wales training as the agent training is longer and more expensive that the training for the landlord. The mother would have to be registered (£33.50 online) but presuming she was not doing any letting or management activities, would not need to do the training or be licensed.
Bunch of wholly a