Permitted payments

For properties in England, the Tenant Fees Act 2019 means that in addition to rent, lettings agents can only charge tenants (or anyone acting on the tenant's behalf) the following permitted payments:

• Holding deposits (a maximum of 1 week's rent);
• Deposits (a maximum deposit of 5 weeks' rent for annual rent below £50,000, or 6 weeks' rent for annual rental of 50,000 and above);
• Payments to change a tenancy agreement eg. change of sharer (capped at £50 or, if higher, any reasonable costs);
• Payments associated with early termination of a tenancy (capped at the landlord's loss or the agent's reasonably incurred costs);
• Utilities, communication services (eg. telephone, broadband), TV licence and council tax;
• Interest payments for the late payment of rent (up to 3% above Bank of England's annual percentage rate);
• Reasonable costs for replacement of lost keys or other security devices;
• Contractual damages in the event of the tenant's default of a tenancy agreement; and
• any other permitted payments under the Tenant Fees Act 2019.

For properties in Wales, the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Bill, once enacted, means that in addition to rent, lettings agents can only charge tenants (or anyone acting on the tenant's behalf) the following permitted payments:

• Holding deposits (a maximum of 1 week's rent)
• Deposits
• Utilities, communication services (eg. telephone, broadband), TV licence and council tax
• Payments for the late payment of rent
• A breach of a term of the contract
• Any other permitted payments under the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Bill and regulations once enacted

Tenant protection

Susan Metcalfe Residential is a member of the redress scheme operated by the Property Ombudsman.

Please note that lettings agents are required by law to publish on their websites information for potential tenants about relevant fees, redress schemes and client money protection schemes (including the names of those schemes). Relevant fees must also be published on third party websites, such as Rightmove etc. For properties to rent in England, details of the agent's membership of any redress scheme and client money protection scheme must also be published with their fees on websites. It is the agent's responsibility to ensure that all relevant information is provided to our advertised and is up to date and accurate. If the relevant information does not appear here, the agent may have included it within the property description.