A Cardiff lettings agent claims to have become the first in Wales to stop charging fees to new and existing tenants.

CPS Homes has made the move one month ahead of the Welsh Government’s nationwide ban coming into force on September 1.

“We’ve known about the ban for a long time so we’ve had plenty of time to prepare and adapt our business model. A month is neither here nor there, so we’ve decided to take the bull by the horns and allow tenants to keep their money in their pocket a little sooner than previously expected” says Nikki Lewis, CPS director of operations.

CPS Homes says it’s also encouraging its landlords to consider allowing tenants to move into properties with lower deposits than the norm.

“Landlords typically want the equivalent of a month’s rent as a deposit in order to guard against potential unpaid rent, cleaning or damages” continues Lewis, “but our experience shows that the average deposit deduction comes nowhere close to that amount.

“There a lot of available properties in Cardiff at the moment – more than there are tenants looking – so in order to encourage interest in their property rather than anything else on the market, we’ve been suggesting to our landlords that they may wish to consider lowering the required deposit.

“We’ve seen the number of properties let rise by 23 per cent in the six months we’ve been pedalling this initiative, so it’s certainly had the desired effect and we’ve had a lot of happy clients and tenants as a result.”