MPs investigating the proposed tenant fee ban due to be progressed through Parliament this year have released a report of their proposals, which include capping rental deposits at five weeks.
The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee provided their feedback in the report, saying:
- security deposits should be capped at the equivalent of five weeks’ rent, not six as the government originally suggested;
- landlords should not be able to retain the full holding deposit if a tenant fails a reference check despite providing accurate information;
- ‘default fees’ are open to abuse so the type and amount of default fee needs to be better regulated;
- additional funding should be made available to local authorities to enforce the legislation.
Penny Coleman, MARLA, Lettings Manager at Berrymans concluded of these points: “Whilst the impending ban on fees will be an obvious advantage to tenants, with affordability at the forefront of many of their minds, the law will need to be carefully implemented to ensure that landlords are also well protected. There are a small minority of tenants who could potentially leave problems for their landlords by leaving insufficient funds to resolve and pay for any issues they have left. It must be said, however, that if greater clarity can be given to the scope and limitations of the terms of the ban, any move to make the process of renting fairer for both tenant and landlord is one that we at Berrymans wholeheartedly advocate.”
You can see the committee’s full report here.