Tenant Fees Act: what a landlord or agent can charge you

What can a landlord or agent legally charge?

Only the payments listed in Schedule 1 of the Act. Anything else a landlord or agent requires in connection with your tenancy is a prohibited payment.

• Rent — no more than the advertised rent, none before you sign the agreement, and at most one month in advance once you have (28 days if you pay weekly).
• A tenancy deposit — up to five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks’ where it is £50,000 to £100,000.
• A holding deposit — up to one week’s rent, and only one holding deposit for the same property at a time.
• Changes you ask for — such as adding or removing a tenant: up to £50, or more only if the landlord shows in writing that their reasonable costs were higher.
• Leaving early at your request — no more than the rent you would have paid had you given the proper notice.
• Bills — council tax, gas, electricity, water, a TV licence, and broadband or phone, where the agreement makes you responsible for them.
• Lost keys or security devices — the reasonable cost of replacing them, with written evidence of that cost.
• Late rent — interest, but only once the rent is at least 14 days late, and at no more than 3% above the Bank of England base rate.
• Damages for a breach of the agreement — for example, the cost of damage beyond fair wear and tear, usually claimed from the deposit.

How much deposit can I be asked for?

On a rent of £1,000 a month, the most you can be asked for is a holding deposit of £230.76 and a tenancy deposit of £1,153.84. A week’s rent is the monthly rent multiplied by 12 and divided by 52, so it is not simply a quarter of the monthly figure. The tenancy deposit must be protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days.

Work out the legal limits for your rent, and check your deposit is protected.

Which fees are banned?

Anything not on the permitted list. That includes fees for viewing, applying, admin, referencing or credit checks, drawing up or renewing the agreement, the inventory, checking in or checking out, and giving a reference to your next landlord. A landlord or agent also can’t make you take out a loan, buy insurance or sign up to a service, such as a particular guarantor company, deposit replacement product or professional cleaner, as a condition of the tenancy.

Offering one of these is allowed; requiring it is not. And you can be asked to leave the home as clean as you found it, allowing for fair wear and tear, but not to pay for a professional clean as a fee.

Offered a “zero deposit” product instead of a deposit? It must be optional: how deposit replacement products compare.

How did the Renters’ Rights Act change the Tenant Fees Act?

From 1 May 2026, rent paid before the tenancy agreement is signed became a prohibited payment for assured tenancies, and a landlord can ask for no more than one month’s rent in advance after signing. Rent can’t be front-loaded into the early months to disguise a fee. The rule that stopped a landlord using section 21 while a banned fee was unpaid was repealed along with section 21 itself.

Six months’ rent upfront, once routine for students and people without a UK guarantor, is no longer allowed for most private tenancies. The round-up of the 2026 rules covers the other changes.

When can a landlord keep my holding deposit?

Only if you give false or misleading information, fail a Right to Rent check, change your mind, or don’t take reasonable steps to agree the tenancy by the deadline, which is 15 days after you pay unless you both agree another date in writing. Otherwise it must be refunded, or put towards the first rent or the deposit.

When a holding deposit must be refunded, and the seven-day deadline for doing it.

Can I be charged for leaving early?

Only what the landlord actually loses, which for a periodic tenancy means no more than the rent you would have paid if you had given the correct notice. Since 1 May 2026 that is two months for most private tenancies. A flat “early release fee” on top of that is not allowed; an agent can charge only its reasonable costs of arranging it.

How do I get an unlawful fee back?

Ask for it back in writing first, naming the fee and saying it is a prohibited payment under the Tenant Fees Act 2019. If that fails, contact your council, which can investigate and help you recover it, or apply to the First-tier Tribunal, which can order the landlord or agent to repay you within 7 to 14 days. If it was an agent, you can also complain to its redress scheme.

• Keep the advert, the invoice or message asking for the fee, and proof you paid it.
• Write to the landlord or agent asking for a refund by a set date.
• If there’s no refund, report it to your council’s trading standards or housing team.
• Apply to the First-tier Tribunal yourself, or complain to the agent’s redress scheme.

I signed an agreement that includes a fee. Do I have to pay it?

No. Under section 4 of the Act, a term of a tenancy agreement that breaches the fee ban is not binding on you, and the rest of the agreement carries on as if it were not there. Signing it does not make the fee lawful.

Better to catch it before you sign. What a tenancy agreement must include covers the terms worth questioning.

Who enforces the Tenant Fees Act, and what are the penalties?

Councils enforce it through their trading standards and housing teams, with a national lettings team led by Bristol City Council as the lead enforcement authority. A council can fine a landlord or agent up to £5,000 for a breach. A further breach within five years is a criminal offence, which can be prosecuted or met with a fine of up to £30,000 instead.

Does the Tenant Fees Act apply in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland?

No. It applies to England only. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own rules on letting fees, and this page does not cover them.