Diolch. These amendments are tabled to give the court the power to revoke a licence for somebody who has been charging unauthorised payments. It would be a discretionary power, not mandatory, but there for the courts to decide. Now, at Stage 2, the previous Minister rejected these amendments on the grounds that it would undermine the role of Rent Smart Wales to decide what action to take. But, the point is that we are asking the courts to enforce this law and, as part of that, giving them a discretionary power to revoke a licence will help with the enforcement of the law.

Rent Smart Wales is in its infancy and still likely to be subjected to legal challenges from landlords in a way that the courts will not. It's likely that a landlord who has had a licence revoked by Rent Smart Wales could challenge this and use a lack of clarity on when licences should be revoked. It is, after all, a question as to whether or not someone is a fit and proper person that determines this, and a conviction in the courts for charging unauthorised fees can, of course, contribute to that. But, it would take time for those powers to be established, and therefore less likely to be challenged.