Ban on lettings fees begins
Money Box
BBC
4.2 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 1 June 2019
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Letting agencies can no longer charge tenants fees when they rent a property. They've already been banned in Scotland and now England is following suit. They can be pretty hefty - for example £500 for a credit check, £200 to check out of the property. These fees account for £700m a year and account for a fifth of agencies turnover. So is this a win win for tenants or will the ban have unintended consequences?
When it comes to elderly or vulnerable loved ones, family and friends often rely on other people to help manage their day to day lives, including going shopping, paying bills, helping them look after their money. Many elderly people fall victim to financial abuse. We speak to Action on Elder Abuse about what you can do to try to stop this from happening.
And this week a major change began which should mean that victims of bank fraud are reimbursed for their losses in almost every case. But it only applies to frauds committed from last Tuesday, May 28th. So what can be done about the estimated £1bn of money people have had stolen before this code was introduced?
Plus we find out more about TSB's 'fraud guarantee'.
Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Producer: Alex Lewis Editors: Richard Knight + Richard Vadon
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers. |
| 0:08.0 | But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA |
| 0:12.0 | was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife. |
| 0:18.0 | Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family? |
| 0:21.3 | When lies are still being told to this day, who do you believe? |
| 0:25.1 | I wouldn't even know where to start, and I'm with the IRA. |
| 0:28.5 | Steakknife. |
| 0:29.7 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.6 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:37.4 | Hello, well, later on Moneybox, we'll hear of a 91-year-old who had £30,000 stolen from her bank account. |
| 0:43.2 | How can you protect older people from financial abuse? |
| 0:46.2 | And the new campaigns launched to make banks reimburse customers for an estimated £1 billion |
| 0:51.7 | pounds stolen from individuals by thieves over the last four years. |
| 0:56.4 | But we start with a major change that you've heard about in the news there in the law designed to help tenants. |
| 1:02.2 | From today, letting agencies in England will no longer be able to charge upfront fees when they rent a property. |
| 1:08.1 | These fees cost tenants £700 million a year |
| 1:11.1 | and at hundreds of pounds to the cost of renting. |
| 1:14.1 | Philip Ryan Tut is one MoneyBots listener |
| 1:15.9 | who has recent experience of these charges |
| 1:17.9 | when helping his student son rent a property. |
| 1:21.0 | The first thing is the new tenant administration fee, |
| 1:25.2 | $160 for that. |
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