Discussions have taken place between lettings industry representatives and Shelter regarding greater transparency about letting agent fees and charges.
The meeting, held as part of the latest NALS Industry Forum, follows recent campaigns from Shelter that paint a bleak image of the lettings industry. Recent campaigns include: The Extended Rental Contract, The Fight Against Rogue Landlords and most recently, Letting Away with It; the campaign against alleged unfair letting agent charges.
The NALS Industry Forum was attending by representatives from the following letting agents: Belvoir; Leaders; Northwood; Spicerhaart; Winkworth and Your-Move.
The outcome of the meeting was an agreement that NALS would act as the conduit for sharing information about working practices in the industry with Shelter going forward to help create a better understanding around issues such as charges.
Isobel Thomson, chief executive of NALS said: “We welcome the opportunity to speak to Shelter about its current campaigns. Shelter gives a voice to tenant and consumer concerns and as an industry we have a duty to listen and respond.
“What these recent campaigns have done is to highlight the need for more dialogue between ‘us’ and ‘them’. It’s clear that at present there is a basic lack of understanding about how – and why – letting agents charge fees with an assumption that these charges are unfair.
“Anyone working within the industry on the other hand will know that time and manpower goes into tasks such as drawing up inventories, checking references and administration. These practices, when done properly, are valuable for all parties and the commercial reality is that they simply cannot be done for free.
“The key to better understanding is transparency. We need to work with Shelter to fill the information vacuum and to explain how firms work. We’re not hiding anything. As an industry, we need to be clear about which services are charged for, why the services are important and most importantly, the benefits they have for tenants and landlords. Timing is also important: tenants need to be told upfront what fees will be charged for and how much it will cost to avoid any nasty surprises along the way.
“Airlines have come into similar scrutiny for the ‘hidden costs’ of flights but are becoming increasingly transparent with the additional costs. The lettings industry needs to do the same. It’s only by doing this that perceptions will be changed.”
