Tenant Act 2019

Permitted payment?

Under Section 2 of the Tenant Act 2019 all charges are prohibited unless specifically listed as a permitted payment;

Recent changes to housing legislation have seen the introduction of the Tenant Act on 1st June 2019. The aim of the Act is to reduce the costs that tenants can face at the outset and throughout a tenancy, and is part of a wider package of measures aimed at rebalancing the relationship between tenants and landlords to deliver a fairer and more affordable private rented sector (PRS) from the tenants’ point of view.

The intention of the act is that tenants will be able to see, at a glance, what a given property will cost them in the advertised rent with no added fees. The party that contracts the service, ‘the landlord’ will be responsible for paying for the service. The Tenant Fees Act defines payments into two separate aspects, ‘Permitted payments’ and ‘Prohibited payments’.

• Rent
• Utilities
• Holding deposit (up to 1 weeks’ rent)
• Security deposit (up to 5 weeks’ rent, or 6 weeks’ if annual rent is over £50,000 per annum)
• Default fees such as; rent arrears, lost keys, other security devices, change of sharer, notation of contract, surrender of tenancy, charges associated with green deal or energy efficiency scheme