Tenancy Deposit Protection

Due to recent reports Landlords are still being caught out and penalised with deposit protection rules, despite the rules being in place now since 2007.

A simple recap of the main ruling; Tenant(s) Deposits must be registered within 30 days of the deposit being paid, whether this is a part of a deposit or the full deposit, plus the correct prescribed information detailing how the protection scheme works must be given to the tenant(s).  

Failure to fulfil the above information landlord or agent will be in breach of the ruling, this can result in the following:
A fine of upto 3 times the deposit amount paid as compensation to the tenant, for example a deposit of £750 could lead to compensation of upto £3000, there is also a timescale 6 years available on any claim.
Legal Notices cannot be served to evict your tenant, for example a section 21 notice.

Correct Prescribed Information:
Section 213 Notice
A leaflet explaining the rules that has been provided by the protection agency 
Deposit Protection certificate signed by Landlord or Agent

Ultimately, it is the Landlord that is responsible for protecting the deposit, if the landlord uses a Letting Agent, the landlord is still liable for any rules that are breached, of course if the agent fails to protect the deposit correctly the landlord would have grounds to sue the agent for loss and negligence.

In England there are 3 approved Schemes:
Deposit Protection Service (DPS)
Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS)
MyDeposits

A few important Changes to legislation on tenant deposits since the deposit protection was introduced in 2007.

Since April 6th 2012 deposits paid have to be protected within 30 days along with the correct information.

Deposits paid before 6th April 2007 a deadline date of the 23rd June 2015 was given to protect deposit and serve deposit information, if the tenancy had a fixed term that ended on or after 6th April 2007 and a replacement tenancy had not been signed, i.e. it is still a periodic tenancy.