Don’t be too quick to applaud the Chancellor’s ban on letting fees

If there’s one thing sure to get estate agents’ knickers in a twist, it’s a threat to their income.

And so the news that Philip Hammond will use the Autumn Statement to announce a ban on letting fees has sparked a tirade of protestations and a bumper crop of press releases lamenting their lot.

But letting agent fees have been a thorn in the side of renters for some time. Young people in particular complain that charges, such as £420 to change the name on a tenancy agreement and £330 to set up a tenancy, hamper their efforts to save for house deposit. But it’s not just the young who feel that these fees are unjust: last month more than a quarter of a million people signed a petition that was delivered to Downing Street demanding that the charges be banned.

In an age when financial services companies are being urged to make transactions as transparent as possible, the lettings industry remains frustratingly opaque.