Wayne Beecham, Director of Progressive Property, the UK's biggest property education and investment company below gives Finance Monthly his reaction to the Queen’s speech’ plans to ban landlord’s charging letting fees.

"Following the Queen’s speech we once again receive confirmation that a tenancy fee cap/ban is on the cards in the future, this has been a headline subject in the industry and I have heard many landlords, property professionals and property companies/ agencies groan at the thought of an outright ban on fees, in many ways I agree as an out-right ban tends to undermine the work and effort put into to the processes of renting properties and the hard work applied by a good quality agent who understands the importance of these fees to support the work required for a harmonious tenancy cycle. Though many people forget that the lettings industry has continued to fall short when it comes to regulations and change over the time and in some ways the landslide of changes we have been encountering over the last 10 - 15 years has been a result of the industry trying to catch up with the limited changes and regulations applied to the private rental sector and we should see these changes as a positive step forward to a better regulated, safer and fairer industry for all involved.

"I agree that an outright ban would not be a positive move forward for the industry and will encourage more agents and landlords to cut corners to try and achieve the outcome they require, a simple fee cap would be adequate to ensure consistency and fairness across the industry as well as acknowledging the works required to protect all parties in the private rental sector. Following conversations with referencing agencies a fee ban would merely promote more creative strategies to be implemented to the industry which would fundamentally cost tenants more money and completely undermine the purpose of a fee ban, as referencing agencies may look to increase their fees to tenants who require referencing for the purpose of renting a property and look to share this fee with letting agents the tenants will ultimately end up paying more to support essentially two fees. I agree any good agent is happy to promote more regulations within the industry which would ensure less bad practices and unscrupulous landlords who look to cut corners and potentially risk lives for their own personal gain, but we also need to ensure we are promoting becoming a property investor to ensure supply of good quality properties continues into the market place to keep up with demand and the shortage of housing we currently face.

"We have already seen a number of regulation changes which have failed to live up to their original objectives, this is clearly seen in the introduction of the protection of deposits and the choice of two different schemes. One scheme has met the objectives set and has a positive impact on the sector by holding the funds and therefore ensuring the purpose of the scheme to protect the tenants monies from any wrong doing or foul play, whilst the other has made little change and following personal experiences of bad practice by an agent the tenants and there deposits which were meant to be safeguarded where unfortunately left in the same situation they would have been if the scheme did not exist at all. We have also seen this with local councils and the eviction process as councils now inform tenants to stay even when legal notices have been served and even worse after county courts have instructed the tenants to leave, this short sighted advice has left many tenants in an even worse situation and delayed the inevitable outcome that they require alternative accommodations, following this advice they are now left in emergency housing or a hostel with a CCJ against their name and therefore narrowing their options for housing going forward and in many cases leaving them with the option of council housing which is already in short supply. By introducing a fee structure within the industry we would ensure consistency and transparency and therefore achieving the outcome required, if any agent or landlord was seen to be ignoring this structure a simple fine process would be enough discouragement."

In addition, Finance Monthly heard from Adrian McClinton, Associate Solictor at law firm Coffin Mew, on the Tenant's Fees Bill:

"Will the banning of letting agent’s fees help tenants?  In my view probably not as much as hoped. 

“Many of those renting do not want to be renting, but they cannot afford to buy because properties where people want/need to live are too expensive.  On the flipside, landlords have seen their margins fall and therefore will understandably want to maintain already slim margins whilst still using the valuable services of letting agents.  We have also seen an increase in competition within the letting agent market, recently joined by online providers.

“I think that landlords will stand firm and we will see the cost of this proposed ban being partly shouldered by letting agents, by reducing their prices and internal cost cutting, and by tenants, through an increase in rents, which is possible because of the huge demand for housing.”

Oanda Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam believes the GBP exchange rate depends on how the Brexit talks unfold and the political situation in the UK. Erlam says the US dollar is heavily sold and due for correction. He expects EUR/USD to revisit 1.10 handle.

Watch the full segment as Erlam details the key technical levels on the major pairs - EUR/USD, GBP/JPY and GBP/USD.

Tip TV Finance is a daily finance show based in Belgravia, London. Tip TV Finance prides itself on being able to attract the very highest quality guests on the show to talk markets, economics, trading and investing, keeping our audience informed via insightful and actionable infotainment.

The Tip TV Daily Finance Show covers all asset classes ranging from currencies (forex), equities, bonds, commodities, futures and options. Guests share their high conviction market opportunities, covering fundamental, technical, inter-market and quantitative analysis, with the aim of demystifying financial markets for viewers at home.

The details of the Government agenda for the next two years have been revealed; and the global delivery experts Fastlane International say there is some good news for exporters and logistics companies.

The delayed Queen’s Speech has finally been delivered, and the e-commerce delivery specialists Fastlane International say that there is some good news for exporters and logistics; though many Brexit details remain unclear.

Says Fastlane’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks MILT: ‘There are eight bills tackling Brexit alone; but the real details of the Government’s approach to Brexit, and how wedded they still are to a ‘hard’ Brexit - leaving the Customs Union and the Single Market entirely - remains to be seen as negotiations unfold.’

David comments below on the Bills introduced:

• The Customs Bill will contain legislation to ensure the UK has a stand-alone UK Customs regime on exit: not entirely good news for exporters and logistics companies hoping to see few significant changes to current tariff free exports and imports. However, the stated flexibility to accommodate future trade agreements with the EU and others does perhaps pave the way for a softer Brexit, including the opportunity to retain tariff free borders.

• Additionally, the Trade Bill will introduce a legal framework for Britain to agree free trade deals with countries and trading blocs around the world; and it is to be hoped this includes opportunities for deals with Nafta - the group made up of Canada, Mexico and the US – and the remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the deal which was due to be implemented between 12 countries, including Australia and Japan, until Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement.

• More good news for UK logistics companies was the Automated and Electronic Vehicles Bill. Fastlane believes the future of UK courier services will be closely linked to greener, autonomous vehicles delivering in urban areas.

• The news that the Government is pushing ahead with its High Speed 2 Phase 2A Bill – the so called HS2A extension of the HS2 railway from Birmingham to Crew - will mean more freight transport will be able to use the existing West Coast Mainline as slots are freed-up when high-speed passenger services switch to the new line.

• News of a Commonwealth Summit next year will also help concentrate plans for British exporters post Brexit. From Australia to Zambia the 52 member countries present an A-Z of opportunities for business.

• Finally, as e-commerce delivery specialists Fastlane was interested to hear of a Digital Charter in the Data Protection Bill. Measures to crack down on internet crime help increase trust in online transactions.

(Source: Fastlane)

At the heart of the Queen’s speech today were an array of proposed bills that prepare the UK for a smooth exit from the European Union. Of 27 bills, eight pertain directly to Brexit and its implications for key sectors.

There are bills to convert EU laws to UK laws and some measures on immigration, fisheries, trade, nuclear power, agriculture and sanctions.

Below Tom McPhail, Head of Policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, discusses the proposed changes with Finance Monthly.

Given what a hash the Conservatives made of using the General Election to increase their majority, and given the overwhelming priority of Brexit, there were a least a few positive announcements in the forthcoming programme. The most important dog that didn’t bark was any kind of announcement on a savings and investment policy; we will continue to press the government on this issue and to look at the possibility of introducing a Savings Commission.

• Financial guidance body
• Unfinished business on pensions and savings
• Social care consultation
• Education
• Digital strategy
• Consumer markets, including the energy market

Financial guidance body

The creation of a new financial guidance body, merging the Money Advice Service, Pension Wise and the Pensions Advice Service into one single body was unfinished business from the last parliament. This guidance service is welcome and necessary, but there remain significant challenges in closing the advice gap and in helping consumers to get the guidance and information they need to make good financial decisions. This is an issue on which the Treasury needs to continue to focus and to work with the FCA and the financial services industry. We also believe that all investors should be encouraged to undertake a financial health-check at age 50 as preparation for their transition from work to retirement; for most people, this is an age when it they are close enough to retirement for it to seem relevant but also far enough way to make meaningful change to their eventual outcomes.

Unfinished business on pensions and savings

It is hardly surprising there was no announcement on the state pension triple lock, as it currently has no formal legislative status; this is something which the Conservative party will probably want to quietly revisit when it feels it has a little more pensioner goodwill in the bank. This could take a while. Similarly, it is hardly surprising there was no mention of any legislation to means-test the winter fuel payment.

In the meantime, there was a disappointing lack of any announcement on a savings and investment policy, something which this country and in particular the younger generations urgently need.

We are also disappointed the government has made no mention of plans to press ahead with a ban on pension cold-calling, something which would now be in train were it not for the General Election.

Social Care consultation

We welcome the announcement of a consultation on care costs. Given the structural damage the Tory party inflicted on itself in the election campaign through its mismanaged social care announcement, it would have been a wasted opportunity not to press ahead with a consultation on reform.

To put this in context, depending on assumptions used such as the continuation of the Triple Lock, we might see the cost of the state pension increase by perhaps 1% of GDP over the next 50 years (from around 5.5% today). The cost of long-term care can be expected to increase by another 1% of GDP over the next 50 years as a result of the ageing population (from 1% of GDP to 2%) and over the same period, the ageing population is likely to increase health care costs generally by over 5% of GDP from 7.3% to 12.6%.

Financial education

The Queen’s speech makes reference to government plans for school and technical education. As part of this programme, we believe greater prominence should be given to financial education and financial literacy. This needs to be addressed across all ages of the population, from those in Junior school through to investors of retirement age.

Digital Charter and digital ID

The government proposes to introduce a new digital charter to ensure the UK is a safe place to be online. We support this initiative and would encourage the government to work with the financial services industry to develop a private sector Digital ID to complement the existing public sector Verify system. Individuals conducting financial transactions, opening accounts, transferring money or using the pension dashboard in the future, need a simple electronic mechanism to prove they are who they say they are. A Digital ID is the answer to cutting bureaucracy, reducing costs and speeding up processes; the government’s new Digital charter may offer a vehicle to accelerate this process.