English: Thanks to the Minister for her statement today, and thanks also for the briefing earlier on. As you mentioned, we, UKIP, have been supportive of this kind of move. We did cover the issue of letting agency fees in one of our own debates last year, so it's an area where we are sympathetic to the issues faced by tenants in the private rented sector. On that occasion, all three opposition parties did support moving towards some kind of restriction in letting agency fees. So, it's good to see that the Government is now moving in that direction. There have been a lot of problems with things that are often called 'administration charges' - a term that is often a coverall term to cover a variety of sometimes questionable fees. Sometimes, as you mentioned in your statement, the administration charge appears to be much higher than the real cost that will have accrued to the letting agent for carrying out that particular service. Perhaps more worryingly, sometimes tenants - or, to use your own terminology, contract holders - don't even understand what they've been charged for because, at the moment, a key issue is that a lot of these charges are not very transparent. I was glad that you used that term in your statement. On the other hand, we are also mindful that there has to be a balanced approach, and you've mentioned that the Registered Landlords Association were heavily involved with the consultation, which I think is good, because I suppose, in a way, there are two sides to every story. We need to have a private rented sector as more and more tenants are actually drawn, sometimes by financial imperative, into this sector, and also by the lack of alternatives. So, we need to have a private rented sector and we don't want to make the regulations so onerous that landlords and letting agencies cannot flourish, as long, that is, as their charges are legitimate and they are transparent. So, we have to be wary, as we proceed with this Bill, of unintended consequences. I know a couple of people have used that phrase today already. The obvious one, I guess, is that, as charges are banned, rents will rise instead. I know Scotland is the ready example, given that they've already moved to restrict letting agency fees. So, it's interesting that there's already this slight contention over the narrative from Scotland over whether the rents have increased there as a result of letting agency fees being restricted. Or is it more the case that they haven't risen as much as they have in England? So, I think we do need to look closely at the evidence from Scotland because it seems to already be in dispute what the evidence actually is. The upfront burden on tenants was mentioned by David Melding, and one of the things that the RLA have called for is some kind of insurance scheme over deposits - one problem being that tenants are often charged a deposit for moving into a new property while they're still waiting for the deposit to come back from their old property. The RLA see the possibility of an insurance scheme so that these deposits could be transferred between the landlords. So, I wonder what thought you've given to that precise proposal. The RLA are also calling for more flexibility over bonds where tenants, for instance, have things like pets. I think this is becoming a big issue. Lots of people want to keep pets, which is fair enough, and lots of landlords won't accept tenants with pets. We need to make sure that people with pets can get into tenancies. So, sometimes it may be the case that landlords need to be able to charge extra in terms of the bond to cover things like the cost of cleaning up when the tenancy finishes, because clearly, if you do keep a dog, then it probably is going to impact on the cost of cleaning. So, I think we need to look at that kind of aspect with this legislation. Bethan Sayed raised the financial education issue, which she has often raised, and I think that you mentioned that that could be incorporated with Rent Smart Wales. So, I'm very interested in how the information is going to be disseminated, if you could give that more thought going forward. I know you seem keen on it, but I'd like a bit more detail on it going forward. Thanks very much.
Welsh: Diolch i'r Gweinidog am ei datganiad heddiw, a diolch hefyd am y briffio yn gynharach. Fel yr oeddech chi'n sôn, rydym ni, UKIP, wedi bod yn gefnogol o'r math hwn o symudiad. Fe wnaethom ni drafod y mater ffioedd asiantaethau gosod yn un o'n dadleuon ein hunain y llynedd, felly mae hwn yn faes yr ydym yn cydymdeimlo a'r problemau a wynebir gan denantiaid yn y sector rhentu preifat. Ar yr achlysur hwnnw, cefnogodd y tair gwrthblaid symud tuag at ryw fath o gyfyngiad ar ffioedd asiantaethau gosod. Felly, mae'n dda gweld bod y Llywodraeth yn symud i'r cyfeiriad hwnnw erbyn hyn. Bu llawer o broblemau gyda'r pethau sy'n cael eu galw'n aml yn 'daliadau gweinyddol' - term sy'n aml yn derm 'cynnwys popeth' i gwmpasu amrywiaeth o ffioedd sydd weithiau yn amheus. Ambell waith, fel yr oeddech chi'n sôn yn eich datganiad, mae'n ymddangos bod y tâl gweinyddu yn llawer uwch na'r gwir gost a fydd ar yr asiant gosod tai am gyflawni'r gwasanaeth arbennig hwnnw. Efallai'n fwy gofidus, nid yw tenantiaid weithiau - neu, i ddefnyddio eich terminoleg eich hun, deiliaid contract - hyd yn oed yn deall am beth y maen nhw'n talu oherwydd, ar hyn o bryd, mae'n fater allweddol bod llawer o'r taliadau hyn nad ydynt yn dryloyw iawn. Roeddwn yn falch eich bod wedi defnyddio'r term hwnnw yn eich datganiad. Ar y llaw arall, rydym yn ymwybodol hefyd bod yn rhaid cael ymagwedd gytbwys, ac rydych chi wedi crybwyll bod y Gymdeithas Landlordiaid Cofrestredig yn ymwneud yn helaeth â'r ymgynghoriad, a chredaf mai da o beth yw hynny, oherwydd rwy'n tybio, mewn ffordd, bod dwy ochr i bob stori. Mae angen inni gael sector rhentu preifat gan fod mwy a mwy o denantiaid mewn gwirionedd yn cael eu denu, weithiau oherwydd rheidrwydd ariannol, i'r sector hwn, a hefyd gan ddiffyg dewisiadau eraill. Felly, mae angen i ni weld sector rhentu preifat ac nid ydym yn dymuno gwneud y rheoliadau mor feichus fel na all landlordiaid nac asiantaethau gosod eiddo ffynnu, cyn belled, hynny yw, â bod eu ffioedd yn ddilys a'u bod yn dryloyw. Felly, mae'n rhaid i ni fod yn wyliadwrus, wrth i ni fwrw ymlaen â'r Bil hwn, rhag cael canlyniadau anfwriadol. Gwn fod ambell un wedi defnyddio'r ymadrodd hwnnw eisoes heddiw. Yr un amlwg, mae'n debyg, yw, wrth i daliadau gael eu gwahardd, y bydd rhenti yn codi yn hytrach. Gwn mai'r Alban yw'r enghraifft amlwg, o gofio eu bod eisoes wedi symud i gyfyngu ar ffioedd asiantaethau gosod. Felly, mae'n ddiddorol fod yna rywfaint o amwysedd o ran y naratif o'r Alban ynglŷn â pha un a yw rhenti wedi codi yno o ganlyniad i gyfyngu ar ffioedd asiantaethau gosod. Neu ai'r gwir yw nad ydyn nhw wedi codi cymaint ag y maen nhw yn Lloegr? Felly, credaf fod angen i ni edrych yn fanwl ar y dystiolaeth o'r Alban oherwydd ei bod yn ymddangos bod anghydfod eisoes ynglŷn â beth yw'r dystiolaeth mewn gwirionedd. Soniodd David Melding am y gost ymlaen llaw ar denantiaid, ac un o'r pethau y mae'r Gymdeithas Landlordiaid Preswyl wedi galw amdanynt yw rhyw fath o gynllun yswiriant ynglŷn â blaendaliadau - un broblem yw bod tenantiaid yn aml yn talu blaendal ar gyfer symud i eiddo newydd tra eu bod nhw'n dal i aros am y blaendal yn ôl o'u hen eiddo. Mae'r Gymdeithas Landlordiaid Preswyl yn gweld y posibilrwydd o gynllun yswiriant fel y gellid trosglwyddo'r blaendaliadau hyn rhwng y landlordiaid. Felly, tybed pa ystyriaeth a roddwyd gennych i'r cynnig penodol hwnnw. Mae'r Gymdeithas Landlordiaid Preswyl yn galw hefyd am fwy o hyblygrwydd ynglŷn â bondiau lle mae gan denantiaid, er enghraifft, bethau fel anifeiliaid anwes. Credaf fod hyn yn mynd yn broblem fawr. Mae llawer o bobl yn awyddus i gadw anifeiliaid anwes, sydd yn ddigon teg, ac mae llawer o landlordiaid yn anfodlon derbyn tenantiaid sydd ag anifeiliaid anwes. Mae angen i ni wneud yn siŵr y gall pobl a chanddynt anifeiliaid anwes gael tenantiaeth. Felly, efallai y bydd angen weithiau i landlordiaid allu codi tâl ychwanegol o ran y bond i dalu am bethau fel cost glanhau pan ddaw'r denantiaeth i ben, oherwydd yn amlwg, os ydych chi'n cadw ci, yna mae'n debyg y bydd yn effeithio ar y gost o lanhau. Felly, credaf fod angen i ni edrych ar bethau felly o ran y ddeddfwriaeth. Cododd Bethan Sayed y mater addysg ariannol, y mae hi wedi ei godi'n aml, a chredaf eich bod wedi crybwyll y gellid cynnwys hynny gyda Rhentu Doeth Cymru. Felly, mae gennyf ddiddordeb mawr mewn cael gwybod sut bydd y wybodaeth yn cael ei rhoi ar led, pe gallech roi bod mwy o ystyriaeth i hynny i'r dyfodol. Rwy'n gwybod eich bod yn ymddangos yn eiddgar amdano, ond hoffwn gael ychydig mwy o fanylion ar hynny wrth symud ymlaen. Diolch yn fawr.