Extra costs cause problems for tenants

It has been claimed that many tenants are facing affordability difficulties as a result of extra and unjustified costs that are being applied by some lettings agents and companies.

The claims were made by the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, which claimed that many tenants were being hit by costs and charges that were not justified and really bumped up the costs relating to renting a property.

Tenants in England and Wales are said to have been hit with a wide range of charges by lettings agents, such as administrative charges, fees for carrying out credit checks, fees for renewal of their tenancy agreements, and charges for coming out and checking the property periodically, which is part of the tenancy agreement anyway and over which tenants therefore have no choice.

However, officials from the CAB have said that many of these fees are charged for things that should already be part of the service provided by the lettings agent and are therefore not justifiable.

One official from the CAB said that the charges “…can be a huge barrier for people on low and even average incomes. In some cases letting agents appear to make them up as they go along.”

The Association of Residential Lettings Agents said that its code of practice was designed to ensure that lettings agents made things clear and understandable for tenants with regards to the charges and fees that they had to pay.

An official from ARLA said: “The letting agreement is, by its nature, a complex transaction centred on the emotive subject of people’s homes. A key element of Arla’s licensing campaign to professionalise the sector is to increase consumer understanding of this complex process.”

Tags: agreement, tenancy agreement, Bureau, transaction, tenants