Lettings agents in England will face civil and criminal charges for flouting a ban on fees, the Government has revealed as it publishes its Draft Tenants’ Fees Bill today. It will create a civil offence with a fine of £5,000 for an initial breach of the ban, and create a criminal offence where an agent has been fined or convicted of the same offence within the past five years. Penalties of up to £30,000 can be issued. A ban on lettings fees to tenants was first announced a year ago and there was a consultation in June answered by 4,700 respondents. The Government has also launched a consultation on making membership of client money protection schemes mandatory for letting and managing agents that handle client money. The Bill will: The full draft bill can be viewed here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-tenants-fees-bill Join thousands of industry colleagues and subscribe to our free daily news email.
The British government has published its Draft Tenants' Fees Bill, setting out their plans to ban letting agents charging fees to tenants. The proposed legislation would create a civil offence with fines of up to £30,000 for an initial breach of the ban, with criminal sanctions and fines of up to £5,000 for repeat offenders. It also contains provisions to cap the amount that can be taken from tenants as a deposit and sets out new rules on returning it to them.