FOI request (FOIR-433651578)

Tenant Fees Act

Requested Fri 01 July 2022
Responded  Tue 26 July 2022

1. How many open/ongoing investigations do you have into letting agents, estate agents or landlords breaching the Tenant Fees Act 2019? (such as prohibited fees, excessive deposits and so on)

a. Please detail what the alleged breaches are and include the amounts involved (for example, check in or check out fees, inventory fees, credit check fees, and so on).

2. Between June 2019 and June 2022:

a. How many complaints did you receive about prohibited tenant fees or related issues? Please provide a yearly breakdown for year 1, year 2 and year 3 and details of the complaints, including amounts requested.

b. How many complaints did you receive about excessive deposits? Please provide a yearly breakdown for year 1, year 2 and year 3 and details of the complaints, including amounts requested.

c. Over the same timeframe - how many breaches were there of the Tenant Fees act? Please provide a yearly breakdown for year 1, year 2 and year 3 and details of the breaches, including amounts requested.

3. Over the same timeframe:

a. How many notices have been issued? Please provide a yearly breakdown for year 1, year 2 and year 3.

b. What was the outcome (paid, withdrawn, appealed)?

c. Did the complainant get their money back?

Response

The duty to enforce this legislation is with the local weights and measures authority.

In this case it is East Sussex Count Council. A district council that is not a local weights and measures authority (that is, Hastings Borough Council) may enforce sections 1 and 2, and Schedule 2, however we have not done so at this time.

Please contact East Sussex County Council who will be able to provide the data requested:

https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk