ARLA campaigning for balanced legislative solution over letting agent fees.

February 1, 2017

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has announced that it is reiterating its call to Government to ban upfront letting agent fees at the start of a tenancy and instead spread the cost across the first six months of a rental agreement.

ARLA opposes a full ban on fees but calls for them to be spread over first six months of tenancy, new research released by ARLA, alongside a new policy paper, reveals that just more than 40% letting agents expect that a full ban would result in reduced staff numbers in the medium to long term, while just more than 60% of agents think that a full ban will cause the quality of rental properties to decline.

David Cox, Managing Director, Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) said: “When the Chancellor announced a full ban on letting agent fees in the Autumn Statement, we called the measure draconian and a crowd-pleaser. We stand by that. Nonetheless, we believe that ARLA’s proposal to spread the cost of the fees across the first six months of the tenancy will guard against the numerous unintended consequences of a full ban while also finding a solution that works best for the consumer.

“Over the coming weeks and months, ARLA will be campaigning for a balanced legislative solution. Our research supports our previous calls that a full ban on letting agent fees will have a profoundly negative impact on the rental market, and do little to help cash-poor renters save enough to get on the housing ladder.”

Read the announcement from ARLA in full click here

 

Allen Walkey

Highly experienced businessman with a successful career in property sales and investment both in the UK and abroad. Now a freelance writer and blogger for the property and Investment Industry, keeping readers up-to-date with changes and events in a rapidly changing world.

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