Landlords receive agency fees boost

Published: February 27, 2008

People with buy-to-let mortgages have received a boost in the battle of letting agency tenancy renewal fees.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued High Court proceedings against a major high street agent.

It centres on fees which landlords are required to pay by many agents despite the fact that the landlord has managed the property alone and is simply looking to renew a previous tenancy agreement.

As it stands, many landlords are required to pay a fee for this, with some agents charging up to 11 per cent of the annual rent.

The National Landlords' Association (NLA) has actively campaigned against the fees and is pleased with the actions of the OFT.

"The NLA has been pivotal at encouraging landlords to come forward and complain about these 'money for nothing' fees which seem to have become the norm in London and the surrounding region," said NLA vice chairman John Socha.

"We very much welcome the OFT's decision to seek an injunction inthis case and hope this sends out a signal that this fee, where the agent has done nothing to earn it, is unwarranted and unfair and should be abolished as soon as possible," he added.

Paragon recently revealed that rental yields increased by eight per cent in the final three months of 2007.