Letting agents will finally get their voice heard on the tenant fee ban as trade body representatives go before MPs today.
David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark, and Isobel Thomson, chief executive of the National Approved Lettings Scheme, will appear before MPs on the Communities and Local Government Committee from 5pm.
The select committee is analysing the private rental sector and also providing pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Tenant Fees Bill.
Generation Rent and Shelter, key campaigners of the ban, have already appeared, while the Residential Landlords Association and National Landlords Association, who have voiced concerns that the changes will just push rents up, also attended last week.
Today will be the first opportunity for agency bodies to air their views.
Cox has been particularly angry about the changes in the past and ARLA Propertymark research has warned that the ban will hit the most loyal tenants with rent increases and cost the sector 4,000 jobs and £200m in lost turnover.
Comments (3)
Impact on jobs lost has certainly been underplayed. The consequence’s of increased costs to Landlords will not necessarily mean higher rents. My view is there will be more and more private landlords, less compliant property, and worsening standards. Agents indirectly police compliance in the Lettings industry and moves should be made to make being a private (non agent using) far more difficult.
Jobs can be protected if private, self managed Landlords, have to be licenced with a cost for obtaining such a licence. Obtaining a licence should mean exactly the same regulation compliance as an Agent.
We will lose Landlords who will simply sell up due to their increased costs, but this will be countered by current non-licenced self renters being ‘forced’ to return to a managed agent.
Time to see if our trade body representatives actually represent or just wriggle and fizzle out!
jeremy1960 did you watch it?
if you didn’t then you would have seen our trade bodies doing what they always do and fight our corner!!! It’s the same story, will MP’s and government listen it’s not a case of “wriggle and fizzle out”
You don’t appear to have an understanding of what our trade bodies have to do to be heard!