Whats up Neighbour is urging the federal government to ban extreme letting agent charges, a follow that it claims prices landlords greater than £2bn yearly in London alone and contributes to rising rents for tenants.
In letters addressed to deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and housing minister Matthew Pennycook, the corporate says that letting brokers routinely cost landlords as much as 20% of the annual lease, with charges that usually escalate as rents enhance.
The PropTech agency claims that much more regarding is the widespread use of restrictive contracts by among the UK’s largest letting brokers. These agreements, it says, lock landlords into long-term commitments with hefty exit penalties and prolonged discover durations; stifling competitors, discouraging funding, and worsening the UK’s rental provide disaster.
The corporate is asking on ministers to ban ‘punitive’ exit charges and ‘unreasonable discover clauses’ alongside the broader rental market reforms proposed within the authorities’s Renters’ Rights Invoice. Whats up Neighbour believes these simple adjustments may considerably ease the housing scarcity and decrease prices for each landlords and tenants.
Richard Jenkins, co-founder and CEO of Whats up Neighbour, mentioned: “We imagine these proportionate adjustments would allow the residential letting market to modernise, stay aggressive, and maintain corporations to higher account. By accommodating these reforms within the Renters’ Rights Invoice or by different related measures, authorities can unlock a fairer, extra dynamic rental market that advantages tenants, landlords, and the broader economic system.
“Our personal analysis exhibits that when landlords cut back pointless prices, many reinvest these financial savings into bettering their properties or increasing their portfolios — delivering direct advantages for tenants within the type of both rental reductions or decrease annual will increase, in addition to serving to to fulfill nationwide housing targets.”
