The guidance published by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) relating to all advertising, while not in itself legally binding, relates to the responsibility that all agents have under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR).
These Regulations require all agents to make full disclosure of any information that a consumer (that is any potential or actual landlord or tenant, buyer or seller) needs in order to make an informed decision at any stage of the renting or selling/buying process. Compliance with the CAP guidance will be monitored by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
The CAP guidance relates to the information that is included in advertisements and in particular the requirement that all letting agents should make full disclosure of all non-optional fees in any advertisements. It applies to printed (including newspaper advertisements), electronic (including websites, property portals and social media) and broadcast advertisements..
So, if your advertisements include the rent of the property:
- they must include the cost of all other fees that are non-optional such as administration fees, referencing fees, inventory fees etc.
- in addition any non-optional fees that may only apply to certain categories of applicant such as guarantor fees (that are only compulsory if there needs to be a guarantor) must also be included.
- if a fee applies to each applicant then this must also be stated.
This guidance does not apply:
- to any advertisements that do not include the rent of the property
- to any fees that may be levied during the tenancy or at the point of renewal refundable deposits
- to any fees that an agent charges a landlord (although such fees would in any case be covered by the CPUTR requirements).
- The guidance appreciates that space in certain forms of advertising may be limited and provides suggested ways of providing the necessary information in various formats.
We suggest that you consult the guidance which can be found at:
http://www.cap.org.uk/Advice-Training-on-the-rules/Advice-Online-Database/Compulsory-costs-and-charges-Letting-agents.aspx
Finally CAP has made it clear that ASA will expect agents to comply fully with the letter and spirit of the guidance.
Also as a further word of warning we have just become aware that the charity Shelter have set up an on-line template document which prospective tenants can use to report instances of unreported fees imposed by agents.
