Howard Lester Blog

Call me cynical, but with over 20 years in the lettings business, I believe the recent Advertising Standards Authority ruling is fundamentally flawed. 

The reasons are twofold. Firstly the new ruling does not require agents to list all their fees upfront on property portals. 

Most tenants find their rental property through Rightmove or Zoopla, but when they search for properties, they will only be told that ‘fees may apply’. 

Considering that this is the first place where tenants will look for a property, they should have all the information upfront and all letting agent fees should be published on the property portals.

Secondly, there is no clear requirement for uniformity. 

If you take a look at a selection of letting agency websites or advertising materials, you will see that they have interpreted the ruling in different ways. Some agents will list all the costs in detail, while some will list only a few and others will again say, ‘fees may apply’. Here lies another problem.

The new ASA ruling unfortunately does not go far enough. It is in danger of repeating the EPC fiasco. 

There is no real enforcement of the new ruling and letting agents are not legally required to display all their fees, in the same way. 

So what punishment will agents get if they don’t abide by the ruling? A small fine or a slap on the wrists?

If the new ruling was introduced as a piece of new legislation, then there would be full compliance. Agents would have no choice but adhere to it – just as they do with gas safety certificates.

I am in full support of the introduction of legislation and the licensing of letting agents. This is the only way in which standards can be raised and enforced for the benefit of all tenants and landlords.

* Howard Lester is director of Balgores Property Group which has six offices in Essex