Taking Deposits

Accepting a deposit is designed to afford the Landlord that extra protection should the Tenant default on rent or cause damage. With the changes introduced since April ‘07 Tenants’ deposits have to be protected by law.

Failure to comply with the new legislations means there is a mandatory fine of 1 to 3 times the value of the deposit if a Landlord fails to protect a deposit, within 30 days. You must also issue prescribed information to the Tenant and ANY other person who provides such deposit. Should you fail to comply there are penalties and fines and you will encounter problems regaining possession of your property as you are unable to use the Section 21 process to End a Tenancy

Many Landlords feel in the event of a disputed deposit the process whereby they rely on the governance of the schemes is often biased towards the Tenant. The following may assist you in making your decision -

91% of dispute cases settled by the scheme's independent adjudication service found in favour of the tenant.Chief Executive of 'Mydeposits' Eddie Hooker, says "Mydeposits.co.uk exists for tenants" (3rd April 2009) the average amount in dispute was £733, which is significantly lower than the average deposit of £1,052.