Letting agents will be forced to display fees
THE GOVERNMENT has announced plans to force letting agents to publish the fees they charge tenants, both on their websites and prominently in their branches.
In a policy designed to take the wind out of Labour’s proposal to ban the fees charged to tenants, Nick Clegg revealed that the measures would help renters to shop around and get the best deal when moving home.
“Short-term gimmicks like trying to ban any fee to tenants means higher rents by the back door,” housing minister Kris Hopkins said yesterday.
“Excessive state regulation and waging war on the private rented sector would also destroy investment in new housing, push up prices and make it far harder for people to find a flat or house to rent,” Hopkins added.
The announcement came just hours before Labour called a vote in the House of Commons, in a bid to force Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs to back their plans to ban the fees. Instead, the government plans to table its own amendment to the bill.