Contract-Holder Fee Ban Toolkit for Wales

Introduction

In Wales, the contract-holder fee ban – a product of the Renting Homes (Fees, etc) (Wales) Act 2019 – came into force on 1st September 2019.

The contract-holder ban is wide ranging and effectively bars most fees from being charged. Landlords and agents will only be able to charge for payments defined as permitted in the legislation.

This guide offers practical tips on how to deal with the legislation, as well as a number of document templates to help comply with the fee ban.

When does the legislation apply?

In Wales, the fee ban applied to assured shorthold tenancies originally but now applies to standard occupation contracts as of 1 December 2022.

What fees are prohibited?

Simply, anything which is not permitted is prohibited and, thus, banned by the Act. This means any payments required after 1 September 2019 in relation to contract-holder agreements, such as check-in fees, check-out (or ‘exit’) fees, administration fees, inventory fees, guarantor fees etc. are prohibited payments.

Additionally, any term of a contract-holder agreement that requires a contract-holder to either: make a prohibited payment, enter into a contract for services, or make a loan, is not binding on the contract-holder. The rest of the contract will, however, continue to have effect.

Landlords or agents are unable to contractually require a payment from a contract-holder to change a joint tenancy agreement to reflect a change of sharer, should one contract-holder leave and be replaced by another. Also, should either party wish to amend a contract-holder agreement, a landlord or agent cannot contractually require a payment for the amendment.