Lettings Fee Ban Consultation Should be Extended or Suspended, Insists ARLA

The lettings fee ban consultation should either be extended or suspended until after 8^th June’s General Election, insists ARLA Propertymark.

The organisation believes that the consultation period for the proposed ban on letting agent fees charged to tenants should either be extended or suspended until after the vote.

ARLA Propertymark’s Chief Exectuive, David Cox, sent a letter to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government , Sajid Javid, yesterday, also requesting that workshops on the lettings fee ban be reintroduced as part of the consultation process.

The full letter is here:

“Dear Secretary of State,

As the UK’s largest professional body for the lettings industry with over 9,000 members, ARLA Propertymark requests that you extend the time limit for the consultation to ban letting agent fees in light of the recently announced General Election.

We were pleased that a key part of this consultation process, as set out by DCLG [the Department for Communities and Local Government], was to engage the sector and host a number of workshops throughout the country to discuss the implementation of the fee ban and proposals in the consultation. This was most welcome, as it would have allowed agents to gain clarity from officials on some of the points raised in the document and share their views on the proposals. However, as it is likely the fee ban will become a manifesto pledge in the coming weeks, and therefore a political issue, this work cannot properly take place during purdah; when civil servants will need to take extra care to remain impartial and objective. General Election guidance also makes clear that statements which refer to future intentions of the Government should not be handled by a Department.

Therefore, ARLA Propertymark asks that the Government either extends the consultation for a further period beyond the election, or suspends it until a new Government is in place.

Either way, we request that the consultation does not close until the now cancelled workshops have taken place; as the Department originally committed to do as part of the consultation process.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Yours sincerely,

David Cox

ARLA Propertymark Chief Executive”

Do you agree with Cox’s calls?

In addition, ARLA Propertymark has recently released its Private Rented Sector report for March: /tenants-lower-rents-lettings-fee-ban/