Anthony Gold

Get in touch

020 7940 4060

  • People
  • Insights
  • What to Expect
  • Contact Us
Anthony Gold
  • Services
    • Housing And Property Disputes
      • Property Disputes
      • Leasehold Services
      • Services For Commercial Landlords, Tenants And Agents
      • Services For Residential Landlords And Agents
      • Housing And Tenancy Issues
      • Judicial Review
    • Injury And Medical Claims
      • Life Changing Injuries
      • Medical Claims
      • Personal Injury
      • Child Abuse
    • Family And Relationships
      • Starting Relationships
      • Ending Relationships
      • After Relationships End
      • Useful Contacts
      • Religious & Cultural Issues
      • Family Law FAQs
      • Family Dispute Resolution
      • Modern Families And Surrogacy Arrangements
    • Conveyancing, Property & Business Services
      • Business Agreements
      • Business Disagreements
      • Commercial Property
      • Commercial Property Disputes
      • Leasehold Services
      • Residential Property
    • Wills, Estates & Court Of Protection
      • Wills, Trusts And Estates
      • Claims Against Trusts And Estates
      • Capacity And Court Of Protection
    • Dispute Resolution & Employment Law
      • Personal Claims
      • Professional Negligence
      • Business Disagreements
      • Claims Against Trusts And Estates
      • Employment
    • People
    • Insights
    • What to Expect
    • Contact Us
  • Get in touch

    020 7940 4060

  • Housing and Property Disputes
  • Injury and Medical Claims
  • Family and Relationships
  • Conveyancing, Property & Business Services
  • Wills, Estates & Court of Protection
  • Dispute Resolution & Employment Law
  • Property disputes
  • Ownership disputes and shares in property
  • Challenging the decisions of councils and public bodies
  • Rights of way, boundaries, covenants and easements
  • Party wall disputes
  • Leasehold services
  • Lease extension
  • Collective enfranchisement
  • Service charge disputes
  • Repairs to leaseholds
  • Right to manage
  • Services for commercial landlords, tenants and agents
  • Breach of covenant
  • Forfeiture and recovery of possession
  • Dilapidations and failing to repair
  • Lease renewals
  • Services for residential landlords and agents
  • Regulatory issues
  • Repossession
  • Agents (including letting agreements)
  • Housing and tenancy issues
  • Repairs
  • Repossession and eviction
  • Rehousing and homelessness
  • Judicial review
  • Life changing injuries
  • Brain injury
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Amputation
  • Psychiatric injury
  • Fatal injuries and inquests
  • Medical claims
  • Surgical claims
  • Non-Surgical Claims
  • Birth injury
  • Child health and paediatrics
  • GP and primary care treatment
  • Private healthcare
  • Personal injury
  • Road traffic accidents
  • Accidents abroad
  • Accidents at work
  • Faulty products
  • Public liability and other accidents
  • Child abuse
  • Child abuse
  • Starting relationships
  • Pre nuptial agreements
  • Pre civil partnership and same sex relationship agreements
  • Cohabitation and living together agreements
  • Property ownership agreements
  • Ending relationships
  • Divorce and separation
  • Ending a civil partnership
  • Ending cohabitation
  • Agreeing child arrangements
  • Agreeing finance and assets
  • International arrangements
  • After relationships end
  • Abduction and leave to remove children
  • Changing and challenging parenting agreements
  • Changing and challenging financial agreements
  • Grandparents’ rights
  • Useful Contacts
  • Financial planners
  • Referral to Pension Actuaries and Pension on Divorce Experts (PODEs)
  • Tax Specialists
  • Financial Neutrals
  • Counselling
  • Conveyancing
  • Wills
  • Religious & cultural issues
  • Jewish family law
  • Islamic family law
  • Family Law FAQs
  • Children FAQs
  • Cohabitation Agreement FAQs
  • No-Fault Divorce and Separation FAQs
  • Financial Issues FAQs
  • Pre-Marital Contracts FAQs
  • Family Dispute Resolution
  • Roundtable Meetings
  • One Solicitor Solution
  • Mediation
  • Collaborative Practice
  • Arbitration
  • Second Opinions
  • Private FDR’s
  • Early Neutral Evaluation (‘ENE’)
  • Modern Families and Surrogacy Arrangements
  • Domestic Surrogacy
  • International Surrogacy
  • Business agreements
  • Business advice
  • Employment
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Supplier contracts
  • Business disagreements
  • Commercial property
  • Commercial Sale and Purchases
  • Commercial loans and mortgages
  • Property Investment: plot developers & plot buyers
  • Auction: sales and purchases
  • Commercial advice for landlords and tenants
  • Planning advice
  • Mortgage debentures and securities
  • Commercial property disputes
  • Breach of covenant
  • Dilapidations and failing to repair
  • Forfeiture and recovery of possession
  • Lease renewals
  • Leasehold services
  • Lease extension
  • Collective enfranchisement
  • Service charge disputes
  • Repairs to leaseholds
  • Right to manage
  • Residential property
  • Residential Sale and Purchases
  • Property Investment: plot developers & plot buyers
  • Remortgages
  • Auction: sales and purchases
  • Ownership matters and transfers
  • Wills, trusts and estates
  • Making a will
  • Applying for probate
  • Distributing the estate
  • Arranging lasting power of attorney
  • Trust advice
  • Tax planning and advice
  • Claims against trusts and estates
  • Contesting a will
  • Losses caused by trustees
  • Capacity and court of protection
  • Appointing a deputy
  • Removing a deputy
  • Arranging lasting power of attorney
  • Gifts and legacies
  • Managing assets under a deputyship
  • Care issues
  • Removing lasting and enduring power of attorney
  • Special educational needs
  • Capacity and court of protection
  • Personal claims
  • Debt recovery
  • Ownership disputes and shares in property
  • Civil and commercial mediation
  • Building disputes
  • Professional negligence
  • Professional Negligence
  • Property Fraud
  • Investment Fraud
  • Business disagreements
  • Building disputes
  • Civil and commercial mediation
  • Claims against directors
  • Contract disputes
  • Debt recovery
  • Directors personal liabilities
  • Employment
  • Professional negligence
  • Claims against trusts and estates
  • Contesting a will
  • Losses caused by trustees
  • Employment
  • Employment
  • Unfair or Wrongful Dismissal
  • Settlement Agreements
Anthony Gold > Blog > Tenant Fee ban in Wales comes into force

Robin Stewart

robin.stewart@anthonygold.co.uk

Share
  • September 3, 2019
  • Blog
  • By  Robin Stewart 
  • 2 comments

Tenant Fee ban in Wales comes into force


The tenant fees ban in Wales came into force on 1 September 2019 and applies to new assured shorthold tenancies in Wales.

Guidance

The Welsh Government published guidance for landlords and agents earlier this month. While important and authoritative, this guidance is not definitive and further it describes itself as ‘non-statutory’. The effect of this distinction is not entirely clear. Local authorities in Wales are required by section 15 of the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019 to “have regard to any guidance issued by the Welsh Ministers”. “Any guidance” is a wide category which would include non-statutory guidance. However, nothing prevents Welsh local authorities from departing from the Welsh Government’s interpretation of the legislation, provided that they have considered the relevant guidance.

This is important because, as detailed below, this guidance contains serious errors.

What tenancies does the Welsh ban apply to?

In Wales the fee ban will apply to new assured shorthold tenancies only. The new rules will apply to tenancies granted from 1 September 2019 and to holding deposits taken from that date.

I noted in an earlier blog post that there was some uncertainty about whether statutory periodic tenancies arising at the end of a fixed term after August 2019 would come within the scope of the Welsh fee ban. The prohibitions in the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019 do not apply to a requirement imposed before the coming into the force of the ban or to a requirement forming part of a ‘standard occupation contract’ entered into before 1 September; this would on the face of it suggest that the fee ban should not apply to a statutory periodic tenancy arising after from a pre-September 2019 tenancy agreement. However, a statutory periodic tenancy arising at the end of fixed term is not merely a continuation of an existing tenancy – it is a new tenancy which imposes new contractual requirements on the parties. It is at least arguable that a statutory periodic tenancy would come within scope of the Welsh fee ban at that stage.

The Welsh Government guidance does not confront this issue head on, merely noting that fees under existing assured shorthold tenancy agreements may be charged, and that “the Act will apply when the term of that tenancy agreement has finished, and a new tenancy agreement is entered into.” This evades the difficult questions surrounding statutory periodic tenancies – where the original term has expired but no new fixed term has been entered into.

Regulations

The Welsh legislation allowed regulations to be made to:

  • set a maximum deposit;
  • make a prescribed limit for ‘default fees’; and
  • issue prescribe information which agents would have to give to tenants when they take a holding deposit.

None of these powers have been used. This came as something of a surprise since there was a consultation on the use of these powers and the Welsh Government expressed a clear intention to make such regulations.

The decision not to make regulations at this stage means that there will be an extended transitional phase. When these regulations are eventually made landlords, tenant and agents will need to learn a new set of rules.

Which fees can be charged in Wales?

When the fee ban applies, a tenant may only be charged ‘permitted payments’. Permitted payments are listed in Schedule 1 of the Act and are:

  1. Rent;
  2. Security deposit;
  3. Holding deposit;
  4. Payments in default;
  5. Payments in respect of council tax;
  6. Payments in respect of utilities;
  7. Payments in respect of a television licence;
  8. Payments in respect of communication services.

Can landlords and agents charge for amendments to a tenancy agreement and changes of sharer?

The guidance states that fees cannot be charges for arranging a change of sharer or for arranging amendments to tenancy agreements.

”Payments for change of sharer

Landlords or agents are unable to charge tenants to change a joint tenancy agreement to reflect a change of sharer, should one tenant leave and be replaced by another.”

”Payments for amendment to a tenancy agreement

Should either party wish to amend a tenancy agreement, a fee cannot be charged for the amendment.

An example of this may be an agreement to pay an increased tenancy deposit (to be protected as required), and to include more conditions in the tenancy agreement, should a tenant wish to keep a pet.”

This is incorrect as these fees are permissible in Wales.

The English legislation contains specific ‘permitted payments’ relating to variations of the tenancy agreement at the tenant’s request and to the assignment or novation of tenancy agreements: landlords and agents may charge limited fees in those circumstances in England.

There are no such ‘permitted payments’ in the Welsh legislation, but that does not mean that these fees are banned. There is no need for a ‘permitted payment’ to be listed because these fees are never prima facie banned in the first place in Wales. Sections 2 and 3 of the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019 prohibit payments to landlords of agents in consideration of the grant, renewal or continuance of a standard occupation contract”. That list does not include variation, assignment, novation or termination or tenancies.

In England the ban is wider and prevents any payment being demanded “in connection with a tenancy of housing in England”. At sections 1(5) and 2(5) of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 a broad definition of “in connection with a tenancy of housing in England” is given and this includes: “in consideration of arranging the grant, renewal, continuance, variation, assignment, novation or termination of such a tenancy”. That wider application creates the need for more permitted payments under the English legislation.

The Welsh Government guidance misstates the law by claiming that fees for varying a tenancy agreement or arranging a change of sharer are unlawful.

This confusion is only going to result in difficulty for landlords, tenants and agents to keep track of their legal rights and obligations during what is already a time of significant legal upheaval for the Welsh private rented sector.

*Disclaimer: The information on the Anthony Gold website is for general information only and reflects the position at the date of publication. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be treated as such. It is provided without any representations or warranties, express or implied.*

Robin Stewart

robin.stewart@anthonygold.co.uk

Get in touch

Call, email or use a contact form – whichever suits you. We’ll let you know the best person to help you get started.

Call or Email

020 7940 4060

mail@anthonygold.co.uk

Comments

Add your comment

We need your name and email address to make sure you’re a real person. We won’t share your email address with anyone else or send you spam. Please complete fields marked with *.

2 thoughts on “Tenant Fee ban in Wales comes into force”

  1. Dale James says:
    September 4, 2019 at 8:19 am

    Hi, I thought so, there is a slight mis match between the Act and the Government’s simplification guidelines!
    Excellent piece,

    Reply
    1. Anthony Gold says:
      September 4, 2019 at 11:49 am

      Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We will pass on your positive feedback to Robin.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

code

Related Services

  • Breach of covenant

  • Breach of covenant

  • Building disputes

  • Building disputes

  • Building disputes

  • Challenging the decisions of councils and public bodies

  • Dilapidations and failing to repair

  • Dilapidations and failing to repair

  • Forfeiture and recovery of possession

  • Forfeiture and recovery of possession

  • Ownership disputes and shares in property

  • Ownership disputes and shares in property

  • Ownership disputes and shares in property

  • Party wall disputes

  • Planning advice

  • Property ownership agreements

  • Property ownership agreements

  • Regulatory issues

  • Rehousing and homelessness

  • Remortgages

  • Remortgages

  • Repairs to leaseholds

  • Repairs to leaseholds

  • Repossession and eviction

  • Repossession

  • Right to manage

  • Right to manage

  • Rights of way, boundaries, covenants and easements

  • Service charge disputes

  • Service charge disputes

  • Tenders and auctions

About the author

  • Robin Stewart

Meet the team

  • Housing and Property Disputes

You might also like...

  • Tenant Fees in Wales

  • Why are the fines imposed on landlords so erratic?

  • How will the Tenant Fees Act be enforced?

Contact Us

Request a Call Back

About Us

  • Accessibility
  • Compliance
  • Responsible Business
  • Equality & Diversity
  • History
  • Our Beliefs
  • List of LLP members

Careers

  • Trainee Solicitors
  • Vacancies

Social Media

  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • View our YouTube channel

Online Payments

  • Payment page through Worldpay

Accredited by

Lexel Parctice
76000Award

Copyright © Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP. All rights reserved. Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC433560 and is authorised and regulated by the by the Solicitors Regulation Authority with registration Number 810601