01/06/2019
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Who does the ban apply to?
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The ban applies to all assured shorthold tenancies, student accommodation and licences to occupy housing in the private rented sector in England. Most tenancies in the private rented sector are by default assured shorthold tenancies
WHAT FEES CAN I ASK A TENANT TO PAY
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The rent
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A refundable tenancy deposit (reserved for any damages or defaults on the part of the tenant) limited to a maximum of five weeks rent where the annual rent is below £50 000.
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A refundable holding deposit (to reserve a property) capped at no more than one week’s rent
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Payments to change the tenancy agreement when requested by the tenant capped at £50, or reasonable costs incurred if higher
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Payments associated with early termination of the tenancy, when requested by the tenant
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Payments in respect of utilities, communication services and council tax
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Default fees required under a tenancy agreement (such as for replacing a lost key or late rent payment fine), limited to the landlord or agent’s reasonable costs which must be evidenced in writing
WHAT FEES ARE BANNED?
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Tenancy set up fee
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Referencing checks fee
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Inventory fee
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Tenancy check out fee
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End of tenancy professional cleaning fee
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Most third party fees
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A breach of the legislation will usually be a civil offence with a financial penalty of up to £5,000, but if a breach is committed within 5 years of the imposition of a financial penalty or conviction for a previous breach, this will be regarded a criminal offence. The penalty for the criminal offence, which is a banning order offence under the Housing and Planning Act 2016, is an unlimited fine.
PLANNING TOGETHER
We anticipate that agents will react to these changes with higher headline rents, increased management fees and offset losses by passing them on to landlords.
MDPM was created with lean operations in mind. Our desire to ensure equitable returns for the landlords and value for tenants means we are better prepared than most.
We are operationally lean, our processes and services streamlined reducing overheads to a minimum. Based mainly in the cloud Landlords and tenants benefit from us not needing to add hidden fees and charge excessive rates for stagnant assets like offices. Our flexible working model capitalises on where the market is going. Needless to say, our workloads keep us on the move. We scale at a pace we choose and can handle as we are customer service driven – believing that our superior service should drive growth.
Many in the industry have grown off the largesse of high fees to both landlord and tenant. With MDPM you can be sure we act first with the interests of the landlord and tenant beyond our own. The result being lower than average void rates and exceptional yields and value to landlords. Our desire to not rip off tenants kept fees low. This means we can absorb these changes.