Landlords and letting agents are once again reminded that although, from April 6, they are being given more time to protect their tenants’ deposits, penalties will be much more strictly enforced.
The changes, which come into force on Good Friday, will give landlords and letting agents 30 days to protect their tenant’s deposit, an increase from the current 14 days.
Crucially, the tenant must be provided with proof of the deposit protection and the Prescribed Information by the landlord or agent within this 30-day limit.
If the deposit is not protected, courts will be able to order the landlord or agent to pay the tenant between one and three times the deposit amount as penalty. They will also be unable to seek possession of the property using a Section 21 notice until the penalty is settled.
mydeposits has announced that it will accept the late protection of deposits by landlords and agents after the 30-day period. However, it warns that the tenant can still seek compensation even if the deposit is protected after the 30-day period, but before going to court. Tenants can also make a claim after they have left the property.
Eddie Hooker, chief executive of mydeposits, said: “These changes to the Localism Bill will close a loophole which saw some landlords escape penalty, despite not protecting the deposit properly or protecting it late.
“It will help give tenants certainty that their deposit is being protected and strengthen penalties for those landlords who try to ignore their obligations.”
The mydeposits scheme has brought out a fact sheet about the changes, available here:
http://www.mydeposits.co.uk/landlords/resources-and-guides/guides
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme has issued a new and comprehensive 67-page guide by solicitor David Smith which is available free to all TDS members.
Comments
Here we go again with a deposiut scheme making incorrect statements.
Unless the Statute of Limitations has been repealed or for some other reason does not apply to TDP court cases, an ex tenant can raise a claim for up to 6 years from the date of the alleged incident.
So why in the link above end of second section does My|deposits say it is only for three months?
Secondly there is a statement that a periodic deposit continues to be protected. Good - but as a periodic is clearly a new tenancy as per section 5 of the 1988 Act then a new PIN form must be served within 30 days of the periodic start date.
Surely a longer period of time to protect deposits can only bring more problems, I foresee landlords and agents attempting to use this to their advantage, keeping hold of depsits until the very last day and in the worst case, Forgetting to register it altogether.
A shorter time fram or even the current 14 days was ample time.
Why fiddle with something that isn't really broken.
From my point of view the money could have been better spent of Deposit staff training as whenever I have called for clarification I am told they don't know or they can't give legal advice. I'm not asking for a legal decision just a spot of advice about a deposit, something these organisations claim to write the rule book on.
Rant over Thank you :)
Thats because the 1000 monkeys that were given a 1000 years to come up with the works of Shakespeare came up with the tenancy deposit legislation first! lol
One thing that gets me though, we use the DPS so why on earth do we need the prescribed information form if they're emailed confirmation anyway? Never made any sense that bit.