Prohibited payments

A prohibited payment is any charge that a landlord or letting agent requires a tenant, guarantor, or person acting on the tenant's behalf to make in connection with a tenancy of housing in England, where that charge is not on the closed list of permitted payments in Schedule 1 of the Tenant Fees Act 2019. The Act operates on a residual basis: if a payment is not expressly permitted, it is prohibited. As the gov.uk guidance on the Tenant Fees Act states plainly, "if the payment a landlord or agent is charging is not on this list it is not lawful."

What landlords cannot charge

Common prohibited payments include administration fees, referencing fees, credit check fees, inventory fees, check-in and check-out fees imposed by the landlord or agent, renewal fees, mandatory professional cleaning fees at the start or end of a tenancy, pet fees or pet deposits charged separately from the permitted tenancy deposit, exit fees, and any additional charge added on top of a permitted payment, for example, an administration charge added to council tax or utility bills.

Charging rent above the agreed contracted amount is also a prohibited payment. A landlord who charges £800 in the first month and £500 thereafter, where the agreed rent is £500, creates a prohibited payment of £300. Similarly, from 1 May 2026, requiring more than one month's rent in advance is a prohibited payment under the Renters' Rights Act 2025.

Any contractual term that would require a tenant to make a prohibited payment has no legal effect, the tenant is not bound by it, even if they have already signed the tenancy agreement containing it.

What landlords can charge

The permitted payments are limited to rent; a refundable tenancy deposit (capped at five weeks' rent where annual rent is below £50,000, or six weeks' rent where it is £50,000 or above); a refundable holding deposit (capped at one week's rent); certain default fees for late rent and lost keys or security devices; a contract variation fee at the tenant's request (capped at £50 or reasonable costs if higher); payments to arrange early termination at the tenant's request (capped at the landlord's actual loss); and payments for utilities, council tax, TV licence, and communication services where the tenancy agreement requires the tenant to pay these directly.

Permitted payments are also capped, any amount in excess of the applicable cap is itself a prohibited payment. For the complete list with all relevant caps, see permitted payments.

Penalties for charging a prohibited payment

Each request for a prohibited payment constitutes a separate breach of the Act, so charging the same prohibited fee under multiple tenancy agreements generates multiple distinct breaches, each subject to its own civil penalty notice.

Trading standards and local authorities enforce the Act. For a first breach, the financial penalty is up to £5,000. For a second or subsequent breach within five years of the first, the penalty rises to up to £30,000, and the landlord or agent may also face criminal prosecution. The maximum penalty on conviction on indictment is an unlimited fine.

In addition to the civil penalty, an enforcement authority can require the landlord to repay the prohibited payment to the tenant in full, together with any interest awarded. Tenants can also apply directly to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to recover a prohibited payment, without needing the local authority to have acted first. There is no prescribed time limit for bringing a tribunal claim.

Possession consequences

Under the previous regime, a landlord could not serve a valid Section 21 notice while a prohibited payment or improperly retained holding deposit remained outstanding. Section 21 was abolished for all assured tenancies from 1 May 2026 under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, so that specific bar no longer applies.

The possession consequence survives in a different form: where a prohibited payment remains unreturned, a court dealing with a Section 8 possession claim may take that breach into account, and the compliance requirement to have returned unlawful charges reflects the broader principle that a landlord in breach of the Tenant Fees Act cannot be said to have met their obligations to the tenant. Landlords should treat repayment of any identified prohibited charge as an immediate action rather than a deferred one.

From working with self-managing landlords across the UK, the most common prohibited payment error is not a deliberate charge but an inherited one, a tenancy agreement drafted before the Tenant Fees Act came into force on 1 June 2019, still in use, which contains clauses requiring charges that are no longer lawful. Any tenancy agreement template should be reviewed and updated to remove prohibited payment clauses entirely.

August's compliance checklist includes a fee-compliance prompt at tenancy setup, helping landlords confirm they are only charging permitted payments before a new tenancy begins.

For practical guidance on structuring what you can and cannot recover from tenants at the end of a tenancy, see our guide to how to handle tenancy deposit disputes fairly.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Tenant Fees Act 2019 apply in Scotland and Wales?

No. The Act applies to England only. Scotland banned tenant fees under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 and related regulations. Wales has its own equivalent legislation in the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019, which came into force in September 2019 and operates on similar principles. Landlords with properties in multiple jurisdictions must check the relevant legislation for each.

Can a landlord require professional cleaning at the start or end of a tenancy?

A landlord cannot require a tenant to pay for professional cleaning as a condition of the tenancy or as a fee at check-out. It is a prohibited payment. The tenant must return the property in the same state of cleanliness as it was at the start of the tenancy, allowing for fair wear and tear, and if they do not, the cost of cleaning can be claimed as a deposit deduction through the tenancy deposit dispute process, not charged as a separate fee.

Can a landlord charge a pet deposit or pet fee?

A separate pet deposit is a prohibited payment, it would push the total security taken above the five-week deposit cap. A landlord can request a slightly higher rent for a property where a pet is permitted, provided the rent applies equally throughout the tenancy and is not structured as an additional pet-specific charge. Requiring a tenant to take out pet insurance at their own cost, as a condition of permitting a pet, is also a prohibited payment.

What should a tenant do if they have been charged a prohibited fee?

First, write to the landlord or agent requesting repayment, keeping copies of all correspondence. If the landlord does not repay, the tenant can report the breach to the local trading standards authority or district council (who have enforcement powers under the Act) or apply directly to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) for an order requiring repayment. The tribunal application is free and there is no time limit for bringing a claim. The enforcement authority can also require repayment as part of any civil penalty process.