The Prime Minister has confirmed that her minority Conservative government will press ahead with the ban on letting agents’ fees levied on tenants in England – but she was giving nothing away when it came to timing.

At yesterday Prime Minister’s Questions, the Labour MP for Stockton North – Alex Cunningham – told Theresa May that one of his constituents paid a £300 ‘house reservation fee’ to a named letting agency which, the MP claimed, was not going to be refunded even though the agent’s client landlord withdrew from the contract.

“She now faces paying another letting agent a non-refundable fee of £650 to secure a different property” Cunningham said in the Commons, urging the Prime Minister to act now and “put an end to these rip-off fees.”

May told Cunningham and the chamber that her party had made a pledge on this in the Queen’s Speech and would act; but when asked “when?”, May did not give a specific timescale.

“We recognise these issues … We need to ensure that anything we bring forward …that we get right, that it’s actually going to work.”

The question came at around 12.30pm yesterday, and readers can see the exchange for themselves by spooling to that time on this link.