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 tenants charging fees to tenants . The proposed legislation would create a civil offence with fines of up to £ 5,000 for an initial breach of the ban , with criminal penalties and fines of up to £ 30,000 for repeat offenders . It also contains provisions to cap the amount that can be taken from tenants as a deposit and sets out new restrictions on returning it to them .