Getting Ready for the Tenant Fees Act 2019 

What is changing for Expert Agent users regarding the Tenants Fee Act 2019? 

The Tenant Fees Act 2019 comes into force on June 1st 2019. It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with the Act and to understand if it applies to you, and how to comply with it if relevant.

This article gives an overview of what changes have been made in Expert Agent to help you comply with the Tenant Fees Act.

In summary:

• The option to ‘Charge Initial Fees’ is no longer available when marking a tenancy as let
• A new warning message will display to help you identify if you are charging a prohibited tenancy deposit 
  • at the start of tenancy
  • when renewing a tenancy
  • You can configure the warning message to not display if you operate outside of the jurisdiction of the Act
• A new configuration option is available to set default Portal Tenancy Info text

The option to Charge Initial Fees is no longer available when marking a tenancy as let

(For branches with Finance) Tenancy -> Change Status -> Mark as Let -> Second page

Any charges/fees outside of rent and deposit are no longer permitted under the terms of the Tenant Fees Act 2019, so the option to charge initial fees has been removed. If the Act does not apply to the tenancy and other charges need to be raised, you can still do this from the tenancy (right click, Financial, where you can create an invoice as required - see Sales Invoices). 

Mark a tenancy as Let

 A new warning message will display to help you identify if you are charging a prohibited tenancy deposit

Start of a tenancy

1. (All branches with or without Finance) Property -> Tenancies tab -> Add a New Tenancy -> Enter/view (pre-populated) all of the following: Rent Amount, Rent Frequency, and Deposit Amount > Save: 
   • Expert Agent will use the information in these three fields to calculate if the deposit amount exceeds the threshold specified in the Tenant Fees Act 2019. If the threshold has been exceeded, a warning message will be displayed, which informs you of the maximum deposit you can charge under the terms of the Act.
2. (All branches with or without Finance) Tenancy -> Details tab -> Enter all of the following: Rent Amount, Rent Frequency, and Deposit Amount -> Save:
   • Expert Agent will use the information in these three fields to calculate if the deposit amount exceeds the threshold specified in the Tenant Fees Act 2019. If the threshold has been exceeded, a warning message will be displayed, which informs you of the maximum deposit you can charge under the terms of the Act.
3. (Only branches with Finance) Tenancy -> Change Status -> Mark as Let -> Charge Deposit (on second page) -> Enter Deposit Amount -> Save: 
   • Expert Agent will use the Deposit Amount in the Mark as Let pop up, and the rent amount and rent frequency from the details tab of the tenancy to calculate if the deposit amount exceeds the threshold specified in the Tenant Fees Act 2019. It will also take into consideration any other deposits that have already been charged against that tenancy. If the threshold has been exceeded, a warning message will be displayed, which informs you of the maximum deposit you can charge under the terms of the Act.
4. (Only branches with Finance) Tenancy -> Financial -> Charge Deposit -> Enter Deposit Amount -> Save:
   • Expert Agent will use the Deposit Amount in the Charge Deposit pop up, and the rent amount and rent frequency from the details tab of the tenancy to calculate if the deposit amount exceeds the threshold specified in the Tenant Fees Act 2019. It will also take into consideration any other deposits that have already been charged against that tenancy. If the threshold has been exceeded, a warning message will be displayed, which informs you of the maximum deposit you can charge under the terms of the Act.

You will need to decide if you want to proceed with this charge (if the Act does not apply to this Tenancy), in which case you can click OK and the amount you have entered will be saved.  If you need to change the amount of Tenancy Deposit, click Cancel and amend the charge.  

Tenancy Setup

 Renewing a tenancy 

(For branches with Finance) Tenancy -> Change Status -> Renew Tenancy -> Save

Expert Agent will use the Deposit Amount and Rent Frequency from the details tab of the tenancy, and the New Rental Amount from the Renew Tenancy pop up to calculate if the deposit amount exceeds the threshold specified in the Tenant Fees Act 2019. If the threshold has been exceeded, a warning message will be displayed, which informs you of the maximum deposit you can charge under the terms of the Act. In order for the warning to display at the appropriate time, you should ensure that the deposit amount on the details tab of the tenancy reflects the amount currently being held as the deposit.

Renewing a Tenancy

Configuration 

(Super Users) Tools -> Configuration -> Lettings Configuration -> Financial Defaults

There is a new checkbox at the bottom of the screen, which will be switched on by default for all branches during the week commencing 27th May.  If you would like to turn the warning message off (because you operate outside of the jurisdiction of the Act), then you can uncheck this box. 

Financial Defaults

A new configuration option is available to set default Portal Tenancy Info text

(Super Users) Tools -> Configuration -> Property Configuration -> Portals -> Options Tab 

There is a new checkbox to "Use default text to populate Portal Tenancy Info on a lettings property".  This will be off by default, but if you would like to populate all blank Portal Tenancy Info boxes (previously called Portal Fee Information, on the details tab of lettings properties) with default text, you can check this box and type the text you would like to display here. 

Please use this box to insert details of any payments, whether fees, costs or charges, which are payable by the tenant to you (as the letting agent) or the landlord.  When populating this section, you may want to review your obligations and those of the landlord under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 (the Act) so that you better understand which payments are permitted and which payments may give rise to a prohibited payment and the consequences associated with the same.  It is your responsibility to ensure that any payments you and/or the landlord receives from the tenant comply with the provisions set out in the Act.  

If you would like to apply default text to all Portal Tenancy Info boxes, regardless of whether or not they already contain text, you can select the checkbox at the bottom of the page.  This will strip out ant text you already have populated in the Portal Tenancy Info boxes and replace it with the default text.  This cannot be reversed once saved, so be sure you want to do this before continuing.  

Portals (see Options section in the article)