Will the Government stand up for nine million renters tonight?

Today, Labour will call for a vote in Parliament on our amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill to ban letting agent fees on tenants. Right now, tenants renting a property through letting agents are hit by huge upfront costs through unfair fees. We want to put an end to these fees and ensure renters get a fair deal.

Only Labour recognises that the private rented sector has changed and is in need of reform. There are now nine million people renting in the private rented sector. Twenty years ago, most people renting from private landlords were students and young people. That is no longer the case. Nearly half of private renters are now over the age of 35 and a third of renting households are families with children.

Our private rented sector is one of the most insecure and unstable in Europe. Tenants who highlight problems in their accommodation run the risk of no fault eviction, unpredictable rent increases can be levied year on year and often, the most certainty a family in rented accommodation will have is between six to twelve months.

On top of that, tenants are also being clobbered by ever-increasing letting agent fees. Letting agencies are contracted by landlords to find suitable tenants, and in many cases to manage their properties. Over 60% of all tenancies in England involve a letting agency.

Letting agents are, therefore, employed by landlords. Yet the current set up allows letting agents to charge both tenants and landlords, even though renters have no choice over the agency attached to a property, and therefore no power to negotiate terms with the agency chosen by the landlord. That’s a raw deal and one unique to the private rented sector.

First time buyers rightly don’t have to pay the estate agent who is working on behalf of the seller of the property. In contrast, renters have to pay to get the keys to their rental property. Just as the estate agent works for the seller, the letting agent works for the landlord. Why, therefore, are renters penalised in this way?

The upfront fees charged to tenants are not small, in fact over a third of people borrow money to pay them. The average a tenant will pay is £350, but in high demand areas, these fees can be much more expensive. These have to be paid at the same time as the first month’s rent and a deposit, meaning that tenants face a significant upfront cost every time they move to a new property. In many cases, tenants are also charged renewal fees at the end of their tenancy if they choose to stay in their current home. A survey of letting agents found that 94% imposed additional charges on tenants on top of the deposit and rent in advance.

The best way to stop double charging and put an end to private renters being ripped off is to stop letting agents charging these fees on tenants. That’s why Labour has tabled an amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill to ban fees on tenants – which we will push to vote in the House of Commons later today.

As well as proposing a ban on letting agent fees to tenants, Labour has also proposed the introduction of more stable tenancies with predictable rent increases. If you rent in the private sector and want a longer term tenancy, we will legislate to give you the right to have a three year tenancy. In that time, there will be a ceiling on the rent increases so that renters will be able to plan for the future. Of course there will also be strong safeguards for landlords if they need to exit the agreement, if they want to sell their property, for example, or their tenants are in rent arrears or guilty of anti-social behaviour.

But today Parliament has an opportunity to put in place the first part of our reform plan and ease the cost-of-living crisis for millions of renters. Generation rent needs proper protection against being ripped off – Labour will call a vote today to do exactly that. The government have said they will enforce transparency but this doesn’t go far enough. If the Tories and Lib Dems refuse to back Labour’s proposals they’ll have to explain why they won’t stand-up for the nine million people who rent.