What cannot be charged
- Application or administration fees.
- Referencing and credit checks.
- Inventory or check in and check out fees.
- Tenancy agreement or contract fees.
- Renewal fees when you stay on.
- Guarantor paperwork fees.
- Charges for viewings, or for being added to a list.
Scotland banned these in 2012, seven years before England, so a Scottish tenant charged an admin fee at any point in the last fourteen years was charged unlawfully.
What can
- Rent.
- A tenancy deposit, within the cap set for the country.
- In England, a holding deposit of up to one week of rent.
- Charges for a lost key or security device, at reasonable cost and evidenced.
- Interest on rent that is genuinely late, limited by statute in England.
- Utilities, council tax, television licence and communication services where your agreement makes you responsible.
- Payments arising from your own request to vary or end the tenancy early, capped at the landlord's actual loss.
Deposit limits
In England, the deposit is capped at five weeks of rent where annual rent is below fifty thousand pounds, and six weeks above it. Scotland does not set the same statutory cap, but a deposit above two months of rent is unusual and worth questioning.
In both countries the deposit must be protected. England requires protection within thirty days and prescribed information served on you. Scotland requires lodging with one of the three approved schemes within thirty working days. Failure can cost the landlord up to three times the deposit.
How to get it back
- Write to the agency, identify the payment, state that it is a prohibited payment, and ask for repayment within fourteen days.
- If it refuses, escalate to its redress scheme in England, or apply to the First-tier Tribunal in Scotland. Both are free to you.
- In England you can also report it to the local authority, which can impose a financial penalty on the agent.
- Keep the receipt or bank record. A payment reference saying admin fee is strong evidence.
Do not be deterred by how long ago it was. These claims reach back further than most people assume, and agencies frequently repay once challenged rather than defend the charge.
How fees get disguised
The common tactic is renaming rather than removing. Watch for an inflated first month of rent that is quietly higher than subsequent months, a non refundable option fee to reserve a property, compulsory paid services such as an insurance product you did not choose, or a fee charged to a guarantor rather than to you.
All of those are the same thing wearing a different hat. If a payment is required in connection with the tenancy and it is not on the permitted list, it is not lawful, whatever it is called.
Common questions
Can I be charged a holding deposit?
In England, yes, capped at one week of rent, and it must be repaid or applied to your rent or deposit unless you withdraw, fail right to rent checks, or give false information. In Scotland the position is stricter and any premium beyond rent and deposit is unlawful.
Can an agent charge me for a reference or a credit check?
No, in either country. That cost belongs to the landlord or the agency. It is one of the most common unlawful charges and one of the easiest to recover.
What if the charge is called something else?
The label does not matter. What matters is whether it is a payment required in connection with the tenancy that falls outside the permitted list. Application fee, admin fee, contract fee and check in fee are all the same thing under a different name.
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