My Lords, I thank noble Lords who have participated in the debate on this amendment, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Grender, for so ably moving it and making some very significant points in relation to this. The Government are clear that the majority of letting agents provide a good service to tenants and landlords—that is our starting point. The Government also know how important housing affordability is and the challenges faced by some tenants, in terms of consumer protection. We have introduced a number of measures to help to tackle this issue. Since 1 October 2014, for example, it has been a legal requirement for letting and managing agents in England to belong to one of the three government-approved redress schemes. Those schemes offer a clear route for landlords and tenants to pursue complaints, weed out the cowboys and cowgirls who give agents a bad name, and drive up standards.
While landlords and letting agents are free to set their own charges, they are prohibited from setting unfair terms or fees under existing consumer protection legislation. We have gone further; in May 2015, under the Consumer Protection Act, we introduced transparency measures that require letting agents to publicise a full tariff of their fees, whether or not they are a member of a client money protection scheme or which redress scheme they are a member of, prominently in their offices and on their website. For the first time, a fine of up to £5,000 has been introduced for agents that fail to do this.
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We are working with the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, who has already been mentioned, and correctly so, and the noble Lord, Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, on a review of client money protection. They are looking at how client money protection is working and whether to use the powers in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 —the powers are obviously already there—to make it mandatory. They are supported by expert representatives from across the private rented sector; there are five members in all on this review, as I understand it. The experts include local authorities and the insurance sector as well as the private rented sector. The group has actively sought views in the call for evidence from all relevant interests, including organisations such as Shelter. I thank the noble Baroness for all the work that she has done for Shelter in the past and to say that it is a very valued partner in this regard. The working group members were invited to bring a range of expertise and perspectives and were expected to deliver their report to Ministers in the new year.
We have also established a private rented sector affordability and security working group, bringing together landlord groups, letting agents and housing charities. The group is exploring, among other issues, options to reduce up-front costs for tenants when
accessing and moving within the sector and increasing security. Its report is expected close to the end of the financial year—that is, during the first half of 2017. I think that that answers the points raised by the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, on reporting dates; they are the best evidence that we have at the moment, and they are likely dates.
The Government have always been clear that any regulation in the sector must be appropriate. The Minister for Housing, Planning and London in another place has also been clear that we must be mindful of the potential impact on rents from banning fees paid by tenants—something raised by my noble friend Lady Gardner of Parkes. I express some reservations on the clause, but I have listened very carefully to what the noble Baroness has said, as well as to the remarks of the noble Lords, Lord Shipley, Lord Thurlow, Lord Best and Lord Kennedy. My noble friend Lady Gardner of Parkes said that there was value in looking at this, but we have to be careful about unforeseen issues in terms of the effect on rents. This is not as straightforward as it might at first seem.