Purplebricks is refusing to say how many tenants and landlords were affected by its failure to comply with the law requiring deposits to be placed in a government-backed scheme.

It is also refusing to say how long tenancy deposits were held by the agency before they were eventually placed in an approved scheme.

The refusal to answer these questions follows the revelation that an unknown number of deposits taken from tenants by Purplebricks were not registered with any one of the three government-backed schemes – they’re operated by MyDeposits, Deposit Protection Service and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.

It is reported that some landlords could face penalties due to Purplebricks’ error if it emerges that the deposits were not protected with a government recognised scheme within 30 days – Purplebricks is refusing to say whether that was the case.

A statement from the agency says: “Due to the introduction of a new lettings IT system, a small number of tenant deposits were not paid into an authorised deposit scheme. As soon as we identified this issue, we took action and have now registered these deposits. We are currently communicating to the affected landlords and tenants.”

A spokeswoman adds: “We won’t be answering any other questions.”