Welsh agents are up in arms over the sheer cost of the new mandatory licensing scheme.
As revealed on EYE yesterday, this is to be £3,728 for applications made online and £4,368 for paper applications.
The cost of the licences, which are to be granted for “up to” five years, came out of the blue.
Furious agents who have spoken to EYE say that the cost is a serious issue for smaller agents managing, for example, ten properties, but who will have to pay the same as those agents managing, say, 200.
EYE has asked the scheme a number of questions including who was consulted.
We have also raised the matter of Welsh agents having to show their fees as from Monday this week, with agents and industry figures adamant that less than a week’s notice was given for compliance.
Meanwhile, the National Landlords Association has estimated that almost two-thirds of tenants in Wales are unaware of the new licensing scheme.
CEO Richard Lambert said: “The NLA will be working to help landlords and agents comply with this new law but we’ve always been concerned that a mandatory registration and licensing scheme will not provide the benefits the Welsh Assembly says it will.
“As the licensing authority, Cardiff City Council must start working with other local authorities from the outset in order to fine and prosecute those who fail to comply within the year’s grace period.
“Without proper enforcement the scheme will do nothing to stop criminals in the sector, but as yet we’ve seen no detail about how Cardiff City Council plans to do this.
“Unless they’re quick off the mark, come next November there’s a real danger that Rent Smart Wales will amount to little more than just a list of names and it will quickly lose the confidence of tenants who expect it to make a difference.”
Comments (12)
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According their website. So looks as if you can’t go round and tell ’em what you think of their scheme for legalised daylight robbery.
Rang Rent Smart Wales on Monday and was asked if I wanted someone in Management to contact me regarding my concerns. Most definitely was my reply. I wonder how long it will be before they do? I also asked for their physical address but was advised they cannot give it out. I wonder why?
As I posted yesterday, a partner, relative, friend who does nay activity with a rented property on behalf of the landlord will need to register as an agent and pay that whopping fee plus the training course & fee’s ….. I don’t think so!!!
It turns out that the agent fee actually is only £144. It would only be £3,728 if you are classed as an agent that employs staff engaged in lettings activity. So DIY and don’t employ anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I operate in Wales. We’ve been asking for at least 10 months about the costs for a licence but nobody had any information. Then they drop that bombshell on the day the laws came into place.
I’m all for licencing and regulation but I don’t see how this will improve the standards of the industry when a stand alone landlord only has to pay £144 and doesn’t have to be part of any redress scheme.
IM already a member of ARLA and offer client money protection through them, a member of the TPO and NAEA and now have to pay £3728 to get a licence.
I’ve spoken to Rent Smart Wales today and I felt sorry for the lady on the other end of the phone. Currently an agent can’t apply because:
1) Agents have to do the training (landlord accreditation wales training) and an Agent ‘top up’ which is not yet available. Apparently it is an additional 2 hour course.
2) The only payment facility they have is via sending a cheque in the post
I asked for an email address for a senior person so I could air my views and I was told their email address’s have not been set up yet and Id have to send a letter.
So basically, Although I don’t agree with the fee, I want to apply as an agent but I can’t.
If you look at the syllabus for the required training posted on Rent Smart Wales you will see that the content is the equivalent of the ARLA diploma which takes on average 9 months to complete. How on earth are they going to do that in a day? Obviously not, but just to rub more salt into an agents wounds if you have that Diploma it is not recognised and you have to go on their one day course. You will be more qualified than their lecturer. The whole things is a farce ……. where is the accountability for MP’s we are told the UK Government expects.
As I posted yesterday, a partner, relative, friend who does nay activity with a rented property on behalf of the landlord will need to register as an agent and pay that whopping fee plus the training course & fee’s ….. I don’t think so!!!
Ooops “nay” above should read any activity.
We are members of ARLA, NAEA, RICS and TPO. Please could someone tell me why having to licence ourselves with the Welsh Taliban sorry Welsh Government as well, is in any way going improve the lot of anyone including the tenant, All this is likely to achieve is higher rents having to be asked by compliant agents/landlords, pushing hard up tenants towards the rogue elements, the exact people these naive bureaucrats think they are protecting people from. There is already ample legislation in place all they have to do is enforce it.
Agree with you. In my opinion, all this comes about because of the minority “cowboy” element. Government and local authority response to the cowboy element is softly softly / half-hearted, and most of the time even when they do prosecute, the fines are so small they’re just considered an “overhead”, and “well worth the risk”.
And so, what are we left with? Exactly what we’ve got today. Who is responsible? Government are. Their solution? They just keep on and on trying to fix the problems by adding more and more legislation / bureaucracy / costs, instead of coming down hard on the rougue operators. They could start with some serious financial penalties being payable upon prosecution, which will act as a good deterrent to many.
Sorry for the rant. I seem to spend more time these days keeping up with rushed out legislation than I do letting and managing property. And I’m fed up with it.
I to am fed …. 30% of our time is now used up pushing paper for all the regulatory organisations, annual returns, quarterly audits etc etc and not one penny spent is income generating for a business.
Think you might mean registering with Dick Turpin after all it is Highway Robbery! We now have ROGUE GOVERNMENTS in a country call Wales.
I work in Cardiff where this has obviously caused quite an annoyance for all agents working in the industry.
All i can safely say so far is that the delightful charge they are issuing to us will result in agency fee’s being raised to cover the ridiculous cost they expect us to pay for licencing.
Expecting a charge of a few hundred for this licence, not thousands. Tenants will be the ones suffering in the long run now.
Isn’t this the Code of Practice published on 10th November??? http://gov.wales/topics/housing-and-regeneration/housing-supply/renting/privately/landlord-and-agent-registration/rent-smart-code-of-practice/?lang=en