A COUNCILLOR who battled extortionate letting agency fees fears a ban announced by the Government yesterday does not go far enough to help hard up tenants.

Tino Callaghan and fellow Independent councillor Lawrence Davies previously put forward a motion to Southend Council calling for the Government to be lobbied about high fees charged by letting agents.

Mr Callaghan took up the challenge after his son committed suicide after struggling to make ends meet.

During the Queen’s Speech yesterday, it was announced a ban on charging tenants letting fees in England to make private sector renting fairer and more affordable could soon be introduced.

The Draft Tenants’ Fees Bill, outlined in the Queen’s Speech, bans landlords and agents from requiring tenants to pay letting fees as a condition of their tenancy. Measures to enforce the ban would enable tenants to recover fees which have been unlawfully charged.

The English Housing Survey 2014-15 found the average letting fee charged per tenancy is £223, but housing charity Shelter has previously found one in seven tenants pay more than £500 in such fees.

Mr Callaghan told the Echo he was worried the fees would be passed onto landlords and be piled onto rents.

He said: “It’s great that the Government is getting involved in this but estate agents are just going to put it on to tenants anyway.

“I’m still worried about the people on lower incomes who cant afford all these fees. I’d like to think rents will stay the same and not incorporate the fees but I’m worried that won’t happen.”

Mike Gray, of Southend-based Dedman Gray estate agents, agreed with the move. He said: “I agree that tenant fees have become too expensive in recent years . A high number of tenants are renting because they can’t afford the deposit to buy so any additional cost up front is difficult and can even prevent them going forward with renting a property.”

Unpopular Conservative election manifesto pledges didn’t make it into the Queen’s Speech, including scrapping winter fuel payments for the elderly, abandoning the pensions triple lock - which would have seen pensioners getting a smaller increase each year - and a pledge to end a ban on grammar schools.

A promised free vote on fox-hunting was also dropped.