I rise to support the Tenant Fees Bill, which has been so clearly presented today by the Minister. The abolition of most up-front fees, the capping of security deposits at six weeks’ rent, the reduction of costs to tenants in the private sector potentially by hundreds of pounds and the increasing of transparency in the housing market—surely we can all unite in saying that these characteristics of the Bill are a good thing. We have all met constituents who rent and whose fees have gone up by roughly 60% in the period between 2010 and 2014 and who have been charged fees for the most bizarre and sometimes unfair reasons—including, for example, checks being made by the same agency on the same tenant for a different property in a short space of time. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby
(Mr Goodwill) mentioned, those fees should be paid by the landlord if they are going to be paid by anyone. As rents and demand increase, the unfairness in the marketplace from a few—I stress a few—landlords and agents that is tolerated by law requires a response from the Government.
However, the Bill is not just about saving money and increasing transparency. The principle of fairness will also be boosted because all landlords will have to be members of a redress scheme, and because tenants should have easier access to dispute resolution. That is an issue that many of us will be familiar with through our own surgeries. Agents will have to be registered as members of a client money protection scheme, as many already are, and banning orders and a database of rogue landlords will be introduced. We all know about the frequent suspects whose properties consistently fail environmental health inspections, and I suspect that they will find their way on to that list unless they change their habits, which is the point of the Bill. At the same time, there will be a further consultation on benefits and barriers relating to longer-term tenancies, which I also welcome.
The ban on fees, the capping of security deposits and much else has already been welcomed by many organisations, such as Which? and Citizens Advice, and on the face of it there is no reason why anyone should object to the changes. However, there are of course some who have opposed some of the detail of the legislation, and at a time when trust is such a crucial element in the relationship between tenant, agent and landlord it is worth touching on those objections.
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In Committee, we heard evidence from landlord associations that landlords should not pay for tenants’ mistakes. The often quoted example is when a tenant loses a key at 2 am and requires an out-of-hours emergency visit and so on. Inevitably, therefore, such associations do not support the abolition of fees. They worry about a rise in rents from landlords to compensate for agency closures and a decline in standards. They worry that the six-week cap on deposits may result in landlords turning away certain risky tenants. However, the evidence from Scotland suggests that concern about rents is not borne out by experience. The six-week period chosen for the cap on deposits is actually greater than the period recommended by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee and, importantly, is significantly above one month’s notice so that, for example, inadequate cleaning can be covered by the additional deposit if need be.
The Bill is not about redressing some medieval struggle between a landlord with as keen a sense of social justice as Keith Allen’s Sheriff of Nottingham in the TV drama “Robin Hood” and cowed, brutalised tenants with no rights. In fact, there are clear examples of the opposite. One of Gloucester’s larger landladies is a woman who fights tooth and nail for her tenants. She accompanies them to meetings at the Jobcentre Plus. She drives one veteran to the Gloucester day parade, where those who served with the Gloucesters at the battle of the Imjin River gather in their decreasing numbers. She goes the extra mile to ensure that her tenants are well looked after, understanding the benefit of them being in a good position to be able to pay their rent. Maid Marian can be a landlady as well as a tenant.
The changes being proposed today should improve the degree of trust between all tenants, agents and landlords. In a world of tougher rules and penalties, I have argued for some time that landlords should be choosing agents who will actually help to keep them on the right side of the law, rather than simply those who charge the lowest fees. The benefit of the changes will be even greater as local government takes on the enforcement role, and this is where the implementation of the Bill will be so important. I hope that the role will be largely exercised by second-tier councils, which will be able to use their knowledge of tenants, housing markets and environmental health complaints to retain the capacity to enforce legislation effectively, self-funded through a system of appropriate fines.
The Bill should therefore create a virtuous circle, higher standards, more trust, better redress, lower costs and, ultimately, better homes for vulnerable tenants, with rogue landlords and agents gradually weeded out and the strong ones not just surviving, but thriving. Those are good aims, but they need good implementation and good review and scrutiny to deliver effectively for my constituents in Gloucester and elsewhere. However, that is the next stage. Today, it is good that Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition are supporting the Bill, and I urge all Members to do likewise.