The Tenant Fees Bill has been introduced to parliament and will now become law next year. This means the formal process of banning fees via the previously drafted bill will now begin and is expected to take a further eight or nine months to pass through the multi-stage legislative process.

It has also been confirmed that the only exceptions to the ban will be for changes to or early termination of a contract by a tenant, any outstanding utility, council tax or services monies owed or when a tenant loses a key and needs a replacement.

England’s letting agents will lose £157 million in revenue or nearly £10,000 per branch during the first year of the tenant fees ban, the government’s own assessment of the impact reveals.  This is based on a total industry size of 16,000 letting agent branches.

But the overall cost of the tenant fees ban, taking in all business activities including agents, landlords and suppliers, is £340 million.

The same document also reveals that the government expects lettings agents to close, jobs to be lost, and that the ban will impact many industry service suppliers such as inventory clerks and tenant referencing companies.

The main trade bodies within the industry remain sceptical of the benefits the government claims the fees ban will bring.  “We do not believe the Bill will achieve its aims, as our own research last year demonstrated that tenants will end up worse off and banning fees will not result in a more affordable private rented sector,” says David Cox, Chief Executive of the Association of Residential Letting Agents.