Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children – in the Senedd at 2:21 pm on 8 March 2017.
I, too, would like to wish all the women in the Chamber a happy International Women’s Day. In response to previous calls to ban letting fees at the start of a tenancy, your Government has claimed that renters would end up paying more in the longer term in regard to increased rent. However, since laws surrounding agency fees have been enforced in Scotland, the charity Shelter has stated that there has been no visible increase in rents, and the organisation easyProperty has also stated that, due to competition in the sector, it was unlikely that agencies would pass on charges to landlords. What lessons will you be taking from Scotland in this regard? And I would echo Mike Hedges’s question: when are we going to get this review completed so that we can implement this here in Wales?