Tenant Fees Act 2026/27: Permitted Payments Landlords & Tenants Must Know

A holding deposit is capped at one week's rent. The landlord or agent must decide within 15 days (unless a longer period is agreed) whether to grant the tenancy. If the tenancy goes ahead, the holding deposit is usually put towards the first month's rent or the tenancy deposit. If the landlord decides not to proceed for a reason unconnected to the tenant, or does not make a decision within 15 days, the holding deposit must be returned in full. It can only be withheld if the tenant provides false or misleading information, fails a right-to-rent check due to their immigration status, withdraws from the tenancy, or fails to take reasonable steps to enter into the tenancy.

The tenancy deposit is capped at five weeks' rent where the total annual rent is below £50,000, or six weeks' rent where annual rent is £50,000 or more. To convert a monthly rent figure to a weekly figure for the cap calculation, multiply the monthly rent by 12 and divide by 52. For example, a monthly rent of £1,300 gives an annual rent of £15,600, a weekly rent of £300, and a maximum deposit of five weeks x £300 = £1,500.

Charging a banned fee is a civil offence, enforced by local trading standards authorities. A first breach can result in a financial penalty of up to £5,000. A repeat breach within five years becomes a criminal offence, or the local authority can instead impose a civil penalty of up to £30,000 as an alternative to prosecution. Additionally, landlords who have charged a prohibited payment cannot serve a valid Section 21 'no fault' eviction notice until they have repaid the unlawfully charged fee.

The ban only applies to tenancies entered into, or fees charged, on or after 1 June 2019 (with a transition period for pre-existing tenancies that ended 1 June 2020). Fees genuinely charged before the relevant date under a pre-existing agreement are not covered. However, any fee charged after the transitional deadline, even under an older tenancy agreement, should have complied with the ban -- if it did not, you can usually claim it back.

First, write to your landlord or letting agent citing the Tenant Fees Act and asking for repayment. If they refuse, you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) or claim through the county court (small claims track for amounts under £10,000) to recover the fee, and the tribunal or court can also order repayment of an unlawfully retained holding deposit or excess deposit above the cap. Reporting the landlord or agent to your local trading standards team can also trigger enforcement action alongside your own claim.

Scotland introduced its own, earlier ban on most letting fees under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 and related tenant fee regulations, which work slightly differently from the English Tenant Fees Act. Wales has separate legislation, the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019, broadly similar in effect to the English Act but with its own specific rules and permitted payment list. If you rent in Scotland or Wales, check the specific legislation for that nation rather than relying on the English rules described here.

Yes -- the Tenant Fees Act does not prevent a landlord from deducting reasonable costs for damage beyond fair wear and tear, or genuinely unpaid rent, from the tenancy deposit at the end of the tenancy, following the normal deposit protection scheme dispute process. It also permits a default fee for late payment of rent (more than 14 days late) calculated using the Bank of England base rate, and a reasonable, evidenced charge for replacing lost keys or security devices.