Lettings Market Brief: Reflecting on a positive year and more legislation changes to come 2019 has been another buoyant year for the lettings market here in York.

Demand for good quality rental properties has continued, often outstripping supply, and as such York continues to be a great place for buy-to-let investment.

There have been lots of legislation changes this year, most notably the Tenant Fee Ban, which is arguably the biggest change to the industry in recent years.

The Ban has restricted the fees agents & private landlords are able to charge tenants, with tenancy deposits no longer exceeding the equivalent of five weeks' rent and holding deposits now capped at no more than one week’s rent.

Whilst there was uncertainty about how the Ban would affect things and worry that it would cause excessive increases in rent prices, this doesn’t seem to have been the case so far, certainly not here in York.

As hoped, the Ban has meant unreputable agents can no longer get away with charging tenants extortionate fees and has made things fairer for tenants overall.

Looking ahead to 2020, it’s clear that there will be even more new and changing legislation.

We are hoping we will soon have more clarity on changes to the Section 21 Notice which currently enables landlords to reclaim possession of their property or evict disruptive tenants without a reason if they have entered into an assured shorthold tenancy agreement.

Under the proposed changes, landlords will have to give reasons for issuing an eviction notice and it will therefore put a to stop to ‘retaliatory’ evictions which can occur when a tenant requests costly repairs to the property.

With an increase in legislation, my advice to any landlord would be to make sure you’re using a local, reputable and qualified letting agent that will ensure your property and tenancies are in line with the latest requirements.

If you would like to discuss getting your property ready to let in York, or making the most of your rental properties next year, please give us a call on 01904 629629 or email Click to show email Share on social media