Furious agent tells MP that Government has ‘devoured’ the hand that fed it

A furious agent has written to his MP in protest about the way the industry is being ‘squeezed’.

Adam McHenry, director and head of sales at Cadman Homes in Rugby, said that estate and letting agencies are being battered from all sides.

He particularly cited the tenant fees ban, Right to Rent, and the 250% rise in anti-money laundering costs.

McHenry said in his letter that the tenant fee ban was a “headline grabbing policy that is ill thought through”.

He described it as “severely detrimental to our industry which has become a scapegoat for the wrongs and ruin of our failed housing policy and current social and private housing shortage”.

He went on to say that with increased legislation, costs and pressure on compliance, “we are being squeezed from both sides – profit and turnover”.

On the tenant fees ban, he said: “A lawyer can still charge a fee to complete and execute a tenancy agreement, so why can’t I?”

Of the hike in AML costs, McHenry said: “If the Government wishes agents to be unpaid  Home Office officials, then please bear in mind that you’ve just stripped us of 30% of our turnover by banning tenant fees; decreased the supply of buy-to-let properties by forcing a number of landlords to sell up because of the new taxes you’ve imposed on them; and decreased our profitability by imposing tax increases on directors’ dividends.

“With Parliament’s failure to agree on Brexit, there is also massive uncertainty and negativity in the market(s) including the housing market.

“An increase in the fee we have to pay, purely to appease HMRC and register to perform their due diligence, is beyond the pale and simply not acceptable.

“The Government should look closer to home if it wants to tackle tax evasion and money laundering through city institutions and creative corporate accounting, not bash local businesses such as humble agents in the provinces.

“This government was, sadly, helped into power by myself and other voters within the industry.

“You were our best chance of getting this country back on track following years of mismanagement and overspending.

“We now feel that the hand that feeds you has not just been bitten, but devoured.”