As of the 27th May 2015, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, there will be a statutory duty on lettings agents in England to display prominently a list of their fees. This applies to both in their offices and on their websites.
For the purposes of the legislation, "fees" are basically defined as any monies which a landlord or tenant pays to the agent for letting agency or property management work, in connection with an assured tenancy.
The list must give enough information, so that whether you are a landlord or a tenant, you can easily work out exactly what you are paying for, and why, and how much it will cost. For example, the list must indicate whether the fees are per property or per individual. The fees must also be shown inclusive of VAT (and any other applicable tax), and in the case of any variable fees (i.e. ones that cannot be determined in advance), an explanation of how the fee is calculated must also be displayed.
In addition to a list of fees, all letting agents from the 27th May must also display a notice setting out which redress scheme they belong to, while those firms which hold client monies (for example, tenants' deposits) must clearly indicate whether they are members of an approved client money protection scheme.
In practice, the majority of the more professional letting agents, i.e. ones belonging to a recognised professional body with a strict Code of Conduct, and/or those who belong to a redress scheme for which full disclosure is a condition of membership, already meet these requirements.
Belgarum are already accredited to various industry bodies which make us compliant with the Code of Conduct for the private rented sector, however Belgarum have been following these codes for a long while now as a way to show our commitment to the industry and our clients as professional and experienced letting agents. Belgarum Lettings are registered with the following bodies:
* Members of ARLA (the Association of Residential Letting Agents) of which we have Client Money Protection through.
* Tenancy deposits are registered with TDS (Tenancy Deposit Scheme)
* Registered to the TPO (The Property Ombudsman) redress scheme
For those letting agents that don't yet comply with these standards they will have to ensure they are by the 27th May or risk being fined up to £5,000 by Trading Standards.
Unfortunately the lettings industry is still something of a wild frontier in certain areas of the UK and despite regular calls from responsible individual agents and professional bodies such as ARLA for greater regulation, there will undoubtedly be some firms that try and get away with bending or flouting these new rules.
We would therefore urge all landlords and tenants to use experienced and reputable agents with the appropriate accreditations.
