The respected letting agency Finders Keepers has written to the Association of Residential Letting Agents urging that a cap - but not a ban - be introduced on fees that can be charged by agents to landlords or tenants.
As part of the growing public debate on the transparency of agents' fees and the regulation of the sector, Oxford-based Finders Keepers says: There is a common sense solution which is to cap, not ban, fees. We have written to ARLA to propose this solution. We have also introduced a transparent Payment Calculator' on all our properties.
The calculator available on each property sets out how much the agency calculates a prospective tenant ought to be earning to afford the home (roughly 30 times the monthly rent) plus any associated one-off rental costs including the deposit, application fee, tenancy deposit fee and any rental paid in advance.
Finders Keepers - almost unique amongst agencies in debating major issues in the sector with its landlords, tenants and wider public - will be discussing regulation and fee transparency at its annual Property Intelligence seminar in October.
The agency is critical of the government for failing to regulate letting agents - advocated by most other political parties and much of the industry itself - but is also critical of Labour's proposals to ban fees and enforce extended tenancies.
"As ever, the true problem is not the fees or tenancy duration but the lack of supply for tenants 'forced into' the private rental sector. Labour's proposals will do little to encourage people to invest in property and boost the rental supply. Instead, Labour has failed to address the real problems in the sector while trying to create new ones" explains Finders Keepers' managing director Dan Channer.
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Comments
Well said to any comments along the lines of "never heard of them" - and "respected" - who by
There is too much of this sort of self publicity on this formum Ros (if you are still in charge) the worst being that guy from up north who no-one else has ever heard of either but who takes every chance to pontificate on anything and everything.
No regulatuion I wouldn't bet on as it is now part of all three major parties manifestos for the next election. They have no choice but to regulate partly because Boris is leading the way with the LRS scheme, but also because the PRS is becoming so big and destined to get much bigger by the end of this decade - probably well over 25% by then.
What this regulation will not, of course, involve is anything to do with linking regulation or accreditation to tenancy deposits. That chance was lost in 2007 by allowing any schemes other than custodial only to operate.
Dan Channer of Finders Keepers says:
[i][b][/b][/i]"Labour's proposals will do little to encourage people to invest in property and boost the rental supply"[i][b][/b][/i]
Well said that man. Over the past few weeks/months I have heard nothing but nonsense from that party. They must be SO ill-informed/ill-advised about the PRS. If they had their way with longer tenancies/abolishing fees etc. property investors would pull out of the PRS in their droves then where would we be
It is obvious to us all that their stance which is to "protect the poor tenant" is nothing short of a vote-grabbing opportunity. Let's face it, the PRS comprises some 9 million voters ;)
"[i]The agency is critical of the government for failing to regulate letting agents - advocated by most other political parties[/i]" - No political party will regulate. Labour had their chance and refused. No Government will introduce regulation until the deposit issue is sorted out and existing regulations actually policed and enforced.
Never heard of them until now.
What a bizarre request
For some time this industry has been acting like turkeys voting for Xmas!
Actually ASKING politicians and the like to take control of it. How stupid can you get. Learn to be proper transparent business people and control yourselves!
Is it ok if I earn a living today, or is there a cap I need to know about
How about people charge what they like and let the customers decide, as usual, and as per any other industry.