Agents had “licence to print money” until activists intervened

Generation Rent, a tenant activist group, has marked the anniversary of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 by highlighting its impact. Before the law was enacted, nearly half of tenants moving home faced fees averaging £269 per household, with some as high as £800. The group claims that, had these fees persisted, renters would have collectively paid hundreds of millions of pounds more annually.

The Act, which Generation Rent fought for, eliminated or restricted various fees, including non-refundable charges at different tenancy stages, and capped deposits at five weeks’ rent for most tenancies. While some in the property industry feared the banned fees would lead to rent increases, the group argues that this did not materialize beyond minor inflation in 2019, which aligned with wage growth.

Since the Act’s implementation, renters have saved nearly a billion pounds, and tribunal cases under the law have mostly favored tenants, with deposit disputes being the most common issue. The group insists that more work is needed to make renting affordable and reduce unnecessary moves, committing to further advocacy efforts.