Renters charged £600 a year to have pets after landlords find new ways to make money following tenant fees ban
TENANTS are being charged up to £600 a year more in rent if they've got pets as landlords look to recover fees lost following the launch of new rules this summer.
Campaign group Generation Rent says it's started to see landlords slap tenants with "pet rents" of between £25 and £50 a month - or £300 to £600 a year.
It follows the introduction of the Tenant Fees Act on June 1, which saw agents and landlords banned from charging fees to tenants in the private rented sector.
Private renters in England had been paying £13million a month in letting fees, according to Citizen's Advice.
But landlords missing out on lost income have been trying to recoup the costs elsewhere.
The other issue is that before the fees ban came in, landlords would sometimes take an extra week or two's rent as a safety deposit against having pets in homes.
Ban on letting agent fees
THE Tenant Fees Bill bans letting fees paid by tenants in the private rented sector.
Housing charity Shelter says tenants shell out an average of £272 in fees, so this will save people a pretty penny.
But experts have warned that renters could still be open to being charged "default fees" - such as when they lose their key or breach their contract.
Under the rules, agents and landlords will still be allowed tenants fees associated with:
- a change or early termination of a tenancy requested by the tenant - but this will be capped at £50 unless the landlord or agent can demonstrate that greater costs were incurred
- utilities, communication services and council tax
- payments arising from a default by the tenant, such as replacing a lost key.
Landlords and estate agents will also only be able to recover "reasonable costs".
For example, they won't be able to charge tenants hundreds of pounds for a damaged item that actually only costs a few pounds to replace.
That would mean renters having to cough up between £192 and £384 extra at the start of a tenancy, according to housing charity Shelter's estimate of average weekly private rent.
This deposit would then be repaid, minus any damage, at the end of a tenancy.
But the Tenant Fees Bill also caps deposits at no more than five week's went and now renters are now simply being charged more each month.
It comes after concerns have already been raised that the fees ban has pushed up rents in general, with more than 55 per cent of tenants seeing costs rise since then.
Georgie Laming, campaigns manager at Generation Rent said: “It’s already difficult for tenants to find a landlord who will allow a pet.
"Unfortunately, with changes to deposit rules, we've seen an increase in landlords charging 'pet rents' - adding £25 or £50 to monthly rents. This is the wrong approach from landlords."
Ms Lanning argues that landlords already take a deposit, and that this should include any potential damage by pets.
She said: "Tenants with pets are more likely to want a stable, long term home, which will benefit the landlord - and that's a point tenants should make in their negotiations.
"Tenants are already paying their deposits and are liable for damage at the end of the tenancy - this is where landlords can charge for damage from pets - not through hiking up rents."
But David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark - a trade body for the lettings industry - says upping rents is now the only legal way for landlords to cover the potential cost of pets.
He said: “This practice is a direct result of capping deposits under the tenant fees ban, as this problem didn’t exist before June 1.
"There’s been a long-standing campaign from the Dogs Trust, called Lets with Pets, which encouraged landlords and letting agents to take a couple of weeks extra deposit to cover the cost of a pet.
"But this practice is now unlawful under the ban and landlords are charging additional rent as it’s the only lawful avenue to mitigate the risk of damage from pets."
More on renting
Renters should check if they can get £192 back from landlords if they've paid more than a five-week deposit.
To help police the rules, a new watchdog has been set up to make sure rogue letting agents don't rip-off tenants.
And the Tenancy Deposit Scheme has launched a new nifty calculator to help make sure agents charge the correct amount.
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