THE MP for Altrincham and Sale West has defended himself against a pressure group’s claim that he snubbed renters in favour of letting agents.


Generation Rent slammed Graham Brady and four other Greater Manchester MPs – John Leech, David Nuttall and Mark Hunter – after they voted against the Consumer Rights Bill last month, which would have seen a ban on hidden fees once a tenant is committed to a property.


The Government instead promised new fines for agents who don’t publish their fee tariff.


Generation Rent Director Alex Hilton said: “This isn’t a majority of agents but the hidden fee scam is still hitting a million tenants each year to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds.


“The government commitment to beefing up regulations against hidden fees will be extraordinarily expensive for the taxpayer to implement if it is to be effective, while a ban on fees to tenants would cost almost nothing.”


Mr Brady said: “Generally a free and healthy private lettings market encourages more properties to become available and is better for tenants in the long term.


“Similarly, if landlords are prevented from charging for services such as preparing tenancy agreements and references it is likely that they will try to recover their costs by increasing rents across the board.


“Those who suffer most will be those on the lowest incomes, many of whom currently rent without using a letting agent.”