Tenant Fees Act 2019: A Landlord's Guide
← Part of Landlord Laws & LegislationReviewed by Bradley Askew, Solicitor (non-practising), England & Wales. Reviewed 22 June 2026.
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 ended the practice of charging tenants fees for tenancy services. From 1 June 2019 (and from 1 June 2020 for all existing tenancies), letting agents and landlords cannot charge anything except a defined list of permitted payments — rent, deposit (capped at 5 weeks' rent / 6 weeks above £50k), holding deposit (capped at 1 week's rent), narrow default fees, and limited variation costs. Civil penalties up to £30,000 per breach plus banning order exposure. This page covers the permitted payments, the holding deposit rules, the deposit cap, default fees, and the common landlord errors that produce enforcement action.
What the Act did
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 ended the practice of letting agents and landlords charging tenants fees for tenancy services. Until 1 June 2019 — when the Act took effect for new tenancies — letting agents in England routinely charged tenants administrative fees that could exceed £500 at the start of a tenancy. Reference fees, inventory fees, "tenancy renewal" fees, "moving-in" fees, exit fees: the cumulative cost was a meaningful barrier to moving home, and the practice had become a widely-criticised feature of the English rental market.
The Act prohibited all such fees with narrow exceptions for a defined list of permitted payments. It also capped tenancy deposits at five weeks' rent (six weeks where the annual rent exceeds £50,000), restricted the use of holding deposits, and provided a statutory penalty regime. From 1 June 2020 the Act extended to all existing tenancies, ending the transitional period during which pre-existing fees could continue to be charged.
The 2019 Act was a substantial change to landlord-tenant economics — letting agents lost a major revenue stream, landlords picked up new compliance obligations, and tenants saved an estimated £240 million per year in industry estimates. The Act has been in force long enough that compliance is now well-established but landlords continue to fall foul of the detail, and the civil penalty regime continues to be enforced.
What payments are now permitted
Section 1 of the Act prohibits all payments by a tenant in connection with a tenancy except those expressly permitted in Schedule 1. The permitted payments are:
- Rent — straightforward, but the Act prohibits "front-loading" rent (charging higher rent for the first months to recoup what would otherwise be fees).
- Tenancy deposit — capped at five weeks' rent where annual rent is below £50,000, six weeks above. Must be protected in an authorised scheme within 30 days.
- Holding deposit — capped at one week's rent. The rules on when it must be returned are detailed (see below).
- Default fees — limited to specified circumstances (lost keys, late rent over 14 days, breach by the tenant), with prescribed maximum amounts.
- Variation, assignment, or novation of tenancy — limited to £50 or actual reasonable costs if higher.
- Early termination at tenant request — limited to the loss the landlord/agent reasonably incurs.
- Council tax, utilities, TV licence, communication services — where the tenant is contractually responsible.
Anything else is prohibited. Common pre-2019 charges that are now banned: reference fees, inventory fees, "professional cleaning" fees at the start of a tenancy, tenancy renewal fees, "admin" fees of any description, fees for issuing any document the landlord is statutorily required to provide.
Holding deposits — the detailed rules
A holding deposit is a payment a prospective tenant makes to indicate serious intent before the tenancy starts. The Act regulates them tightly:
- Maximum: one week's rent. A holding deposit on a property at £1,500 per month is capped at £1,500 ÷ 52 × 12 = £346.15.
- Refunded if tenancy proceeds: the holding deposit is set off against the first rent or deposit. Cannot be retained as a separate fee.
- Refunded if landlord withdraws: if the landlord chooses not to grant the tenancy after taking the deposit, it must be returned within 7 days.
- Refunded if landlord fails to respond: if 15 days pass without the landlord granting the tenancy or formally rejecting the applicant in writing, the deposit must be returned (the "deadline for agreement" rule).
- Withholding permitted only in narrow cases: the landlord can retain the holding deposit only if (a) the prospective tenant fails right-to-rent checks, (b) the prospective tenant provides false or misleading information that materially affects the decision, or (c) the prospective tenant withdraws.
The deposit cap
Section 4 caps tenancy deposits at:
- Five weeks' rent where annual rent is below £50,000.
- Six weeks' rent where annual rent is £50,000 or more.
Deposits taken above the cap are recoverable by the tenant. The Act does not allow the excess to be retained even with the tenant's consent — the cap is a statutory maximum, not a default subject to variation.
A deposit on a tenancy at £1,200 per month: annual rent = £14,400; weekly rent = £276.92; five-week deposit = £1,384.62. Most landlords round to £1,300 or £1,400 — both within cap. A deposit of £1,500 would breach the cap and the tenant could recover the £115.38 excess.
See our deposit protection guide for the broader regime.
Default fees
The Act allows a small number of fees in narrow circumstances. The Tenant Fees (Default) (Amount) (England) Regulations 2019 prescribe maxima:
- Lost keys or security devices: reasonable cost evidenced by receipt or invoice.
- Late rent over 14 days late: interest at 3% above Bank of England base rate, calculated daily on the overdue amount.
- Breach of tenancy by the tenant: evidenced reasonable costs (not punitive charges).
Any clause in a tenancy agreement that purports to charge default fees outside these categories — or above the prescribed maxima — is unenforceable. The standard pre-2019 "early termination" clause requiring three months' rent regardless of the landlord's actual loss is now void.
Penalties for breach
Trading Standards (operated by local authorities) enforces the Act. Penalties:
- First offence: civil penalty up to £5,000.
- Repeat offence within 5 years: civil penalty up to £30,000, or criminal prosecution with unlimited fine.
- Banning Order: repeat offenders can be banned from letting property entirely.
Tenants can also recover prohibited payments directly from the landlord — either through the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) or the County Court. Tenants who have paid prohibited fees can recover them with interest, regardless of whether Trading Standards has taken enforcement action.
A landlord cannot serve a Section 21 notice (under the transitional regime, where any pre-1 May 2026 notices are still being processed) while holding any prohibited payment. The bar continues until the prohibited payment is returned. Section 8 grounds are not similarly barred but landlords with prohibited-payment failures often face procedural attack on possession claims regardless.
What landlords often get wrong
Cleaning fees at end of tenancy. Landlords sometimes try to charge a tenant for "professional cleaning" at the end as an automatic fee — this is unenforceable. Reasonable cleaning costs deducted from a deposit (where the property has been left in worse condition than at the start) are permitted, but a flat-rate cleaning fee is a prohibited payment.
Rent guarantee insurance fees. A landlord cannot pass the cost of their own rent guarantee insurance to the tenant as a fee. The landlord chooses to take out the insurance for their own protection; the cost is a business expense, not a tenant cost.
"Admin" or "renewal" fees. Pre-2019 letting agent practices included fees for renewing a tenancy at the end of the fixed term. All such fees are prohibited. (Under the post-1-May-2026 regime, "renewal" of a tenancy is rare anyway because there are no fixed terms — but the principle remains.)
Holding deposit retained when tenant changes mind for legitimate reasons. The grounds for retaining a holding deposit are narrow. A tenant who simply changes their mind without misleading the landlord cannot have their deposit retained — but landlords sometimes try.
Charging for inventory or check-out. The cost of producing an inventory or carrying out a check-out is the landlord's responsibility. Charging the tenant is a prohibited payment.