CPS Homes

CPS Homes becomes first agent in Wales to scrap tenant fees

Save on tenancy fees illustration - a piggy bank on a tableWe have become the first agent in Wales to stop charging fees to new and existing tenants.

Housing over 7,000 Cardiff residents every year, we've taken the decision to stop charging tenants now; a month before Welsh Government's nationwide ban comes into force on 1st September.

We've known about the ban coming in for a long time, so we've had plenty of time to prepare and adapt our business model accordingly. A month is neither here nor there, so we've decided to take the lead and allow tenants to keep their money in their pocket from a little sooner than previously expected. Every little helps!

Since removing the fees earlier this week, we've let 27 properties – almost 10 a day – so it's certainly helping!

Lower deposits

As well as taking the initiative on agency fees, many of our landlord clients will know that we have been encouraging them to consider allowing tenants to move in with lower deposits than the norm.

Landlords typically want the equivalent of a month's rent as a deposit in order to guard against potential unpaid rent, cleaning or damages, but our experience shows that the average deposit deduction comes nowhere close to that amount.

There are a lot of available properties in Cardiff at the moment – more than there are tenants looking – so in order to encourage interest in their property rather than anything else on the market, we've been suggesting to our landlords that they may wish to consider lowering the required deposit.

We've seen the number of properties let rise by 23% in the six months we've been pedalling this initiative, so it's certainly had the desired effect and we've had a lot of happy clients and tenants as a result.

See how the ban on tenant fees will affect landlords, agents and tenants.

09 August 2019

The information contained within this article was correct at the date of publishing and is not guaranteed to remain correct in the present day.

Back

Posts by date

Sign up for updates

By using this form, you agree with the storage and handling of your data in accordance with GDPR for the sole purpose of communication. We respect your privacy and will not share your data with third parties. For more information, please view our Privacy Policy.

cwtch tile