What Landlords Can Still Charge Under the Tenant Fees Act

The Tenant Fees Act 2019 decides which payments a landlord or letting agent in England can require from a tenant. Almost everything that used to be an admin fee, a referencing fee or an inventory fee is now a prohibited payment. This guide is the list of what is still allowed, and the caps that sit on deposits.

This is general information, not legal advice. It describes the Tenant Fees Act 2019 as it applies in England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules on fees and deposit size.

What you cannot charge

If a payment isn't on the permitted list, requiring it is a breach. That covers the fees that used to be routine:

• Referencing, credit checks, immigration checks and guarantor fees.
• Inventory, check-in and check-out fees charged to the tenant.
• Admin fees for drawing up the tenancy, or for renewing it.
• Requiring the tenant to take out insurance, including pet insurance, or to enter a contract for a service as a condition of the let.

A higher rent in the first period, used to disguise a fee, is also prohibited. The rent-in-advance cap is a separate rule, in force from 1 May 2026, and it sits on top of this Act.

What you can still charge

• Rent. The rent itself is a permitted payment.
• A refundable tenancy deposit, inside the cap below, protected in an approved scheme. See deposit protection.
• A refundable holding deposit of no more than one week's rent. You've got 15 days from receiving it to enter into the tenancy, unless a later deadline is agreed in writing. It's repaid, or put towards the rent or deposit, if the tenancy goes ahead.
• A default fee the tenancy actually provides for, such as replacing a lost key, or interest on rent paid late. Late-rent interest cannot be higher than 3% above the Bank of England base rate.
• A variation, assignment or novation, capped at £50, or higher if you can show the reasonable costs exceeded £50.
• Early termination, limited to the loss the landlord actually suffers.
• Bills the tenant is liable for: council tax, utilities, a TV licence, and communication services.

The deposit cap

Where annual rent is under £50,000, the deposit cannot be more than five weeks' rent. Where annual rent is £50,000 or more, the cap is six weeks' rent. A week's rent is the annual rent divided by 52.

The cap is separate from protecting the deposit. A deposit inside the cap can still be unprotected, and a protected deposit can still be over the cap. Both are breaches, of different laws. In Northern Ireland the cap is one month's rent, and that isn't this Act.

The penalty

A first breach can draw a financial penalty of up to £5,000. A further breach within five years can draw up to £30,000, and can be prosecuted. The tenant, or the local authority, can also require the prohibited payment to be returned. Trading standards and local authorities both enforce the ban.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

This Act is an England statute. Wales restricts fees under the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019. Scotland prohibits premiums on a private residential tenancy. Northern Ireland caps the deposit at one month's rent and doesn't use this Act's five-week figure. Check the nation of the property before you rely on the English list.

Your records

For each let, keep the advertised rent, the deposit taken, the holding deposit and when it was repaid or credited, and any default fee with the tenancy clause and the cost behind it. That's the file a trading-standards query will ask for.

The certificate record for the property is a separate job: gas, electrical and EPC still have to be current. Vantage tracks all of that, with a single compliance score per property and reminders before each deadline. Try it free for 14 days.