The majority of letting agents in England have experienced lost revenue from the tenant fees ban.
A survey of agents by letting platform Goodlord found that 59% of firms have seen a dip in annual revenue of up to 20% following the ban.
Some 31% of respondents said that their agencies had lost between 10-20% of their revenue as a result of the Tenant Fees Act, while 28% said their agencies had lost up to 10% of their revenue.
These figures align very closely with the market’s predictions from last summer when 31% of respondents said they expected to lose between 10-20% of their revenue, and 32% saying they expected to lose up to 10%.
Just 15% of survey respondents said that the Tenant Fees Act has had no impact on their revenues.
With a third - 35% - of agents admitting that they were worried about ongoing compliance with the Tenant Fees Act and the penalties for not doing so, many are likely to increase their rental stock or hike their management charges to make up for lost revenue from the tenant fees ban.
Tom Mundy, COO at Goodlord, said: “It’s clear that the Tenant Fees Act has had a significant impact on the industry.
“The majority of agents have seen revenues hit and a large slice of the market continues to worry about compliance.
“These figures show just how pivotal this legislation has been, with few emerging unaffected by the changes.”
The upcoming State of the Industry Report from Goodlord, which will be released in full on 10th February, will reveal the full impact of the Tenant Fees Act six months on.
Mundy added: “With further pieces of key regulation due in 2020 and beyond, it’s essential that agents stay nimble and prepare their business models for more change to ensure they continue to prosper this decade.”
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It's hard not to think that agents brought this upon themselves by charging exorbitant fees for simple admin tasks.
If they've lost 20% in revenue, they were obviously charging far too much from the tenant. The greedy, money grabbing agents have no one to blame but themselves.
Just as with both tenants and landlords not all agents are rouges here, I have a very good independent agent I use in Norwich who are fair to both landlords and tenants equally .
It is of course the case that most LA; EA, LL and tenants AREN'T rogues!
But of course there are some in each category.
You can't tar everyone with the same brush; only Shelter and GR do that!!
Rogue tenants however are far and away the largest number of rogues.
They cause LL over £9 billion in losses every year.
That is what I call real roguery!
But of course no Govt wants to acknowledge this fact!
Govt refuses to allow a rogue tenant database but it does for LL........................hardly fair!
It is of course the case that most LA; EA, LL and tenants AREN'T rogues!
But of course there are some in each category.
You can't tar everyone with the same brush; only Shelter and GR do that!!
Rogue tenants however are far and away the largest number of rogues.
They cause LL over £9 billion in losses every year.
That is what I call real roguery!
But of course no Govt wants to acknowledge this fact!
Govt refuses to allow a rogue tenant database but it does for LL........................hardly fair!
The Tories have worked out that most LLs will still vote for them come what may as the alternativer is far worse. Tenants however who are also far greater in number and younger represent a huge opportunity to increase their poll ratings and essentially keep Labour out of power for a generation, maybe forever.
Very true Paul.
Agents loose a big chunk of their income because of fees ban which is very true, while I am not a big fan of Lettings agents I acknowledge they do provide a service which has to be paid for, they have premises / probably leases business rates and up keep to pay for which is not insignificant, give employment to large numbers of mostly young people, cars & travel costs, that said its a matter for private LL's if they want to use them or not. However, there is a big chunk of Private LL's income lost as well due to unjust Regulation which only applies to some LL's, its total discrimination if you let to sharers usually working sharers, with the outrageous licensing schemes that don't apply to family's mostly on Benefit or Related people usually on Benefit, main stream Family's have their own homes that they had to buy & are not in general on Benefit as Gov' has power over them and can take a swipe at their property. The Council's / Gov' / Shelter has imposed a huge burden on Private LL's at Zero cost to themselves not even one penny, no need to say what those are, driving thousands to the wall & Auction Rooms then Land registry can tell us how good sales figures are or to Airbnb because of no other choice or be Bankrupt, making it far more difficult for Tenants of any denomination to find good quality affordable accommodation.
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