Tenant fees and permitted payments

Rent, and rent in advance

Rent itself is a permitted payment, but the rules on when and how it can be requested changed for assured periodic tenancies from 1 May 2026:

• Rent must not be requested, encouraged or accepted before the tenancy agreement has been signed by the required parties.
• After signing and before the tenancy starts, no more than one month's rent in advance may normally be required.
• Where rent is payable more frequently than monthly, the advance payment is limited in line with the official guidance's 28-day limit.
• Once the tenancy has begun, rent can only be required on the agreed regular due dates.
• Rent must be spread regularly and equally across the tenancy — it cannot be inflated at the beginning and reduced later.
• We advertise a property at the rent the landlord will accept. We will not invite, encourage or accept an offer above the advertised rent.

Holding deposit

Capped at one week's rent per tenancy

A holding deposit reserves a property while the pre-tenancy checks are completed. It is capped at one week's rent for the tenancy — not one week per applicant — and only one holding deposit may be held for the same property at any one time.

The deadline for entering the agreement is normally 15 calendar days from when the holding deposit is received, unless a different deadline is agreed with you in writing.

A holding deposit may only be retained in the circumstances the law permits:

• a relevant person fails a Right to Rent check;
• the applicant decides to withdraw from the proposed tenancy;
• the applicant provides materially false or misleading information which reasonably affects their suitability to rent the property;
• the applicant fails to take reasonable steps to enter the agreement even though the landlord and agent have taken all reasonable steps to do so.

How a holding deposit is returned or applied

If we retain a holding deposit, we must set out the reasons in writing within the statutory deadline. Simply not signing by the deadline does not automatically allow the deposit to be kept — the question is whether reasonable steps were taken on each side.

Where the deposit is to be refunded, the refund must be made within the required seven-day period.

With your consent, a successful applicant's holding deposit can instead be put towards the first rent payment or the tenancy deposit — but only after the agreement has been signed, and only with the payer's permission.

Tenancy deposit

Up to five weeks' rent (annual rent under £50,000); up to six weeks' rent (£50,000 to £100,000)

The tenancy deposit covers damage or default during the tenancy. It is capped at five weeks' rent where the annual rent is below £50,000, and six weeks' rent where the annual rent is between £50,000 and £100,000.

Tenancies with annual rent above £100,000 fall outside the scope of the Tenant Fees Act; different arrangements apply and we will explain them before you commit.

Where a deposit is taken on a tenancy within scope, it must be protected in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme, and the prescribed information supplied to you, within 30 days.

Interest on late rent

No more than 3 percentage points above the Bank of England base rate

Interest may only be charged on late rent if all of the following hold:

• the rent is at least 14 days overdue;
• interest is charged only on the overdue amount, not the whole rent;
• the rate does not exceed three percentage points above the Bank of England base rate;
• the tenancy agreement provides for the charge;
• the calculation is redone whenever the overdue balance or the base rate changes.

Lost keys or other security devices

Reasonable costs actually incurred, evidenced in writing

If a key, fob or other security device is lost, only the reasonable costs actually incurred in replacing it may be recovered — for example a locksmith's invoice and the cost of cut keys where the locks must be changed.

Those costs must be evidenced to you in writing. There is no automatic or predetermined administration charge for dealing with a lost key: a charge that does not reflect a cost actually incurred is not payable.

Changing the agreement at your request

Up to £50 including VAT per agreed variation

If you ask us to vary the tenancy — including a change of sharer — the charge is up to £50 including VAT for the variation.

A higher amount can only be charged where the reasonable costs actually incurred are higher, and anything above £50 must be supported with written evidence of those costs.

One request is one variation: where a single request covers one change to the agreement, the £50 cap is not multiplied by the number of people party to it.

Ending your tenancy

Assured tenancies are periodic. You can normally be required to give no more than two months' notice to end your tenancy.

If you leave without giving the notice the agreement requires, the most that can be requested is the rent the landlord would have received had the correct notice been given. You are not liable for rent until a replacement tenant is found, and no separate re-letting or administration fee can be charged to you.

Utilities, council tax and other permitted payments

Where the tenancy agreement makes you responsible for them, the following remain payable: utilities (gas, electricity, water and sewerage), communication services such as broadband and telephone, council tax, and the television licence.

Three protections apply to all of them:

• you cannot be charged separately for anything already included in the rent — the same service cannot be paid for twice;
• utility charges must reflect the permitted or actual cost of the service and must not be used to generate a profit from you;
• council tax and television-licence payments follow the statutory arrangements for those charges.

Payments we cannot charge

The following cannot be charged to a tenant, prospective tenant or guarantor in any circumstances, whatever a tenancy agreement says:

• administration, set-up or tenancy-paperwork fees;
• referencing or credit-check fees;
• inventory, check-in or check-out fees;
• renewal fees;
• guarantor fees;
• charges for having a pet, or an additional pet deposit;
• compulsory insurance products;
• compulsory use of, or payment for, a third-party service.

The official guidance this page follows

• Fees you can charge as part of a tenancy (GOV.UK)
• Tenant Fees Act 2019: statutory guidance (as amended by the Renters' Rights Act 2025)
• Renters' Rights Act: an overview for landlords (GOV.UK)
• Assured tenancy agreements: a guide for landlords (GOV.UK)
• Asking for rent in advance: guidance (GOV.UK)