Almost three-quarters of respondents supported the option which would involve amending and publicising the definition of a premium through a customer focused communications exercise, in order to provide clarity. For many, the key argument in favour of this option was that it would promote and reinforce their view of the existing law. Two-thirds of all respondents indicated that this was their preferred option.
One quarter of respondents supported the option which would involve developing secondary legislation in order to specify charges that should not be classed as a premium, along with maximum allowable amounts for each charge. Many letting agents supporting this option argued that there are legitimate charges they require to make to tenants in order to deliver an effective and quality service. However other respondents, both supporting and opposing this option, suggested that setting maximum allowable amounts was not an appropriate task for Government and could stifle competition.
The option to develop secondary legislation to specify the charges, without a maximum allowable amount was least favoured, with less than ten per cent of all respondents indicating that they supported it. By far the most significant support for this option came from letting agents.