At the moment, renters often have to pay mandatory, and sometime exorbitant fees, to letting agents for basic credit searches or to sign a new tenancy agreement, for example, sometimes amounting to several hundred pounds. The average fee paid in England is £223 per tenancy, although the charges are already banned in Scotland.

In England, there is no regulation of the level of fees set.

The Chancellor Philip Hammond said: In the private rental market, letting agents are currently able to charge unregulated fees to tenants. We have seen these fees spiral, often to hundreds of pounds. This is wrong. Landlords appoint letting agents and landlords should meet their fees. So I can announce today that we will ban fees to tenants as soon as possible.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will consult ahead of bringing forward legislation.

Tax and property

On the tax front, the government confirmed a new tax allowance for property and trading income.

First announced at Budget 2016, the government will create two new income tax allowances of £1,000 each, for trading and property income. Individuals with trading income or property income below the level of the allowance will no longer need to declare or pay tax on that income.

The trading income allowance will now also apply to certain miscellaneous income from providing assets or services.

Rural business rate relief

From 1 April 2017, the inconsistency on business rates between rural rate relief and small business rate relief will be removed with the doubling of rural rate relief to 100%. The rural rate is available at businesses in areas with a population under 3,000, with very limited amenities.

ATED rise

Meantime, the annual charges for the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) will rise in line with inflation for the 2017 to 2018 chargeable period.

Rick Behan, partner at Shelley Stock Hutter said: ‘The property market will have been hoping for a stimulus from the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. With excessive amounts of capital tied up in London’s new stock of prime residential property, the sector was hoping for an initiative to improve demand - opening the door to new development and avoiding the slow down filtering too far into the mid range market.

‘Instead, the Chancellor has upheld the 3% stamp duty premium, which has proved lucrative in bolstering the Treasury’s tax takings. The market will now look to fall back on a weak pound that may be sufficient to bring in foreign investment, once UK economic stability can be demonstrated post Brexit.’