Tenant Deposit Protection

As a landlord it is vital to keep up to date on property law and regulations. One such bit of legislation that is very crucial in the sector at the moment is to do with tenancy deposits. Since 2007 there was a Tenancy Deposit Protection legislation that was passed requiring that all tenancy subject to assured short hold tenancies must have deposits logged with a third party protection service to handle disputes regarding deposit deductions. It also requires that all relevant protection information such as registration codes and details be provided to relevant tenants for clarity and proof of the protections being valid.

Back then there was still certain exemptions to these rules which made landlords still able to serve section 21 orders of repossession on a property without having all the prescribed rules followed but since March 2015 amendments to the act have seen that no such exemptions exist any longer.

If you are a landlord then you need to remember the following points when dealing with tenancies if you don’t want to run into been scrutinised with fines and be able to legally submit a valid repossession order.

Must be logged in 30 days

Once a tenancy agreement is signed and deposits paid over by a tenant you then are required to have this logged into suitable protection services within a 30 day period.

Documentation and Proof must be provided

All prescribed information regarding tenant deposits must also be handed over to all the relevant parties the deposit effects. This will usually be the tenant but in other cases it may be a family member, individual, guarantor or company that has paid on behalf of a tenant. These bits of documentation must also be provided within this 30 day period.

This documentation should include:

• Address of the property

• Amount deposit is

• How it is protected (eg Online Account, Bank stored, Scheme)

• Contact Details of the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme

• Contact Details Resolution service of the scheme

• Agent or landlord contact details

• Payee of the deposit if paid on behalf of the tenant

• Details of what deductions can be made on the deposit

• Deposit refund request details for the tenant

• Details of what to do in the event of not being able to contact you (landlord)

• The actions they must take over any disputes

Valid and protect with a governed scheme

Any valid scheme will provide a protection certificate covering most of the above details and make sure they are governed by the ‘Department for Communities and Local Government’ if they are not steer clear.