Currently, under the Rent (Scotland Act) 1984, landlords and
their agents can legally charge rent and a deposit only when granting a
tenancy.
However, current legislation has not been explicit enough
about additional charges such as reference checks, credit checks and inventory
fees.
The law will now be clarified so that all tenant charges,
other than rent and a refundable deposit, will be deemed illegal. These will
come into effect in November.
Gordon MacRae, Head of Communications and Policy at Shelter
Scotland said:
“This is great news for everyone who has been ripped-off by
unscrupulous letting agents. It will finally put an end to this unlawful
practice and ensure that tenants are no longer exploited.
“Shelter Scotland has been campaigning all year for these
fees to be outlawed. Our reclaimyourfees.com web site has proved so popular
that already more than £100,000 worth of claims against letting agents have
been made using our free step-by-step toolkit.”
NetRent Comment
There is no doubt that some landlords and agents charge
excessive fees to set up a tenancy, but there is a cost to set up a tenancy
including reference checks, credit checks, inventories etc. If landlords and
agents are not able to make a charge for these then rents will rise to cover
the cost of setting up a tenancy.
Landlords and agents in England and Wales are not affected
by this decision, only Scottish tenancies are affected. However, there is
growing demand for Parliament and the Welsh Government to follow suit and ban
additional charges. This demand will continue to grow if landlords and agents charge
unreasonable costs to set up a tenancy.
We strongly advise all landlords and agents to join
TenantVet, the free online tenant referencing service, including all Scottish
landlords and agents.
