The CLG Committee has today announced that it will conduct
pre-legislative scrutiny of the Government’s proposals to ban
letting fees imposed by landlords and letting agents on tenants.
The draft Tenant Fees Bill was published on 1 November and
according to the Secretary of State aims to deliver ‘a fairer,
more competitive, and more affordable lettings market where
tenants have greater clarity and control over what they will pay
and where the landlord is the primary customer of the letting
agent’.
The Bill would prohibit all payments to lettings agents and
landlords (aside from rent, security deposits, holding deposits
and tenant default fees), cap deposits and introduce new civil
and criminal offences for breaching the ban.
The Committee plans to hold a series of oral evidence sessions in
the New Year with experts, tenant, letting agent and landlord
associations, and trading standards authorities. These will be
held in tandem with the sessions for the Committee’s
existing inquiry into the Private Rented
Sector.
During these sessions the Committee will scrutinise the policy
objectives, key provisions and likely impact of the draft
Bill. This will include assessing:
- The
Government’s stated objective is to deliver ‘a fairer, more
competitive, and more affordable lettings market where tenants
have greater clarity and control over what they will pay and
where the landlord is the primary customer of the letting agent.’
Do the provisions of the draft Bill enable this objective to be
achieved?
- Are the
draft Bill’s provisions necessary, clear and workable?
- What are the
resource implications for local authorities?
- What is the
likely impact of the legislation on key stakeholders including
tenants, letting agents and landlords?
Written submissions
Prior to the publication of the draft Bill the Government held a
public consultation on the proposals. The Committee will take
into account the response to that consultation as part of its
pre-legislative scrutiny. However, written evidence is
invited specifically on aspects of the draft
Bill as published which are considered to go beyond the scope of
the Government's consultation. Submissions should address the
bullet points identified above. The Committee would be
grateful for such submissions to be made by 14
December.
Please use this link to submit written
evidence
ENDS
Editor’s notes:
- Evidence
sessions are scheduled to be held in the New Year. The
Committee’s inquiry into the role of local authorities in the
Private Rented Sector (PRS) focuses on the provision by councils
of private rented accommodation and whether they have sufficient
powers to deal with bad practices.
-
Pre-legislative scrutiny is the detailed examination of an early
draft of a Bill that is done by a parliamentary select committee
before the final version is drawn up by the Government.
