AN INDUSTRY body for letting agents has voiced its disappointment about a plan to ban charging letting fees to tenants.

ARLA Propertymark represents more than 9,000 members across the UK and was responding to the draft Tenants’ Fees Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech.

David Cox, chief executive of the professional body, said: "The announcement of the draft Tenants’ Fees Bill was disappointing. It’s unlikely the Government had enough time to analyse all of the responses from the consultation, as it only closed on June 2.

" It appears they had already made their decision and therefore the consultation was no more than a ‘tick box’ exercise and they haven’t appropriately taken the industry’s views into account."

He continued: "A ban on letting agent fees will cost the sector jobs, make buy-to-let investment even less attractive, and ultimately result in the costs being passed on to tenants."

Mr Cox said research shows that referencing checks undertaken by agents take, on average, eight hours to complete. "It is therefore right and proportionate that the industry is recompensed for this work, which benefits tenants," he added.