Call for law to ban rental ‘booking fee’

Laws should be considered to ban rental-sector booking fees in the same way schools are now banned from charging non-refundable application fees, housing charity Threshold has said.

By Niall Murray

Laws should be considered to ban rental-sector upfront non-refundable fees and high deposits in the same way schools are now banned from charging non-refundable application fees, housing charity Threshold has said.

It is hearing of small but growing numbers of prospective tenants being asked by landlords or agents to pay upfront 'booking' fees and high deposits. Threshold has since clarified that such fees were not "viewing fees" as originally believed, but upfront booking deposits, some of which were non-refundable.

Threshold chief executive John Mark McCafferty said such moves are seen both as a screening system and as an unethical money-making venture.

School admissions law that came into effect this month means schools can no longer charge parents to apply for enrolment.

“We can certainly learn from legislation around similar principles of access,” Mr McCafferty said. Mr McCafferty said Threshold began hearing about the issue around 18 months ago.

He said that, in the same way that school education is a public service, provision of housing assistance payment (HAP) on behalf of some tenants is a comparable publicly-funded service.

“A client we worked with was asked to pay a €500 fee and asked us if it was legal,” Mr McCafferty said.

“Technically, there’s nothing in the law to stop someone asking for a fee of that nature unless it is seen to be discriminatory. But a person would have to have proof of it being used as a barrier to accessing accommodation on the basis of them being HAP recipients.”

In a follow-up statement, Threshold said: "While anecdotally the term 'viewing fee' has been used by Threshold callers, Threshold's client records only refer to upfront booking deposits and more limited references to non-refundable booking fees.

"Upfront payments are a particular issue for HAP recipients and those on low income, as they simply don't have the resources to meet this unrealistic demand and the HAP scheme does not facilitate advanced payments for bookings. Threshold views this as an exclusionary mechanism, impacting on low-income and HAP tenants.

"As these upfront sums of money are a barrier to prospective tenants, changes in the law are required to prevent requests for upfront fees and high deposits (e.g. two to three months the equivalent in rent)."

This story was updated on October 18 in light of a follow-up statement provided by Threshold, clarifying that its records show the upfront payments were not 'viewing fees', but booking deposits.