After Your Tenant’s Deposit Is Secured- Prescribed Information Guide

Good read....but one thing about the 4 page form has go me confused, under the tanants section:

"Contact address to be used by The Landlord at the end of the tenancy:"

how are you supposed to know that, get a time machine?

'Unfortunately, this case may have opened the floodgates for many tenants to do the same thing, as I’m sure many landlords have failed to provide all the prescribed information'

Maybe.

But when you are watching your tatooed girlfriend on the Jeremy Kyle show again, have you ever noticed those annoying adverts in between?

You know the one-
"Did you slip on your kebab last night when coming home pissed??
Did you bounce on your fat arse and put your head thru' your landlords glass front door???
Was the glass toughened to B.S EN12150????

-If it wasn't, you could be entitled to compensation!
You get to keep every penny of the 20 quid compo!!
Our 20 grand fees are all paid for by the other side.
We are BastardLawyersDraggingTheCountryDownForU!!!"

Not that I ever watch Jeremy myself (..ahem). But I have never seen an advert saying if your landlord hasn't served you 50 pages of shite, then you could have a claim.

I'm guessing (but don't take this as my usual Gospel) it is because, unless the landlord admits to not supplying the prescribed info, it is up to the tenant to prove they didn't- a very difficult thing to do.

Different matter if the landlord was the claimant (as per your example).

But I could be wrong...

"Contact address to be used by The Landlord at the end of the tenancy:"

how are you supposed to know that, get a time machine?

You normally use their next of kin (not co-habitees obviously).

Wouldn't it just be easier for them to produce one pdf that you can print of in one go?..... No they try to stitch people up.

I went to the site and it's clear to find the form and the t&c's but the other two really clear and if I hadn't read this I would even have thought about providing them.

As a private landlord, I do not charge an admin fee for new tenants. With all these reams of paper you have to provide to the tenants now, I think I will have to consider introducing a charge to cover the costs.

If tenants cannot familiarise themselves with the in's and out's of the scheme their deposits are held in, then I would question whether they have the mental capacity to sign a legally binding tenancy agreement!

Please can anyone provide advise....
I was new to letting and tenant moved in in August for 6 months. I overlooked putting deposit in DPS for a number of valid reasons (hospital).
The tenant has intimated they may be leaving but has not given notice in writing but has however issued a letter claimed there deposit back + x 3!!! When they go. I have as soon as I became aware put deposit in scheme. How do I stand on this?

Peter,

I would return the deposit now, immediately.

As the tenant is threatening a claim against you, I would regard the business agreement as being irretrievably ended.

To that end, I would issue a section 21 notice as soon as the deposit has been returned and carry it through all the way to eviction.

I would do this to my own timescale and at my own convenience.

I would not admit any liability if there were valid reasons. If the tenant wishes to pursue you through the courts, then make them prove it.

If they do take you to court, then counterclaim for all the eviction costs and all property damages.

I would far rather let a court decide the up to 3x the deposit award than to have some 'where there is a blame claim' toerag put a gun to my head.

I am a tenant and my LL has been rather unfair to me throughout the time I have been here. I have been here since 2006. I believe that the deposit scheme thing became a legal requirement after that. I received a letter in 2011 informing me that my deposit had been submitted to one of these schemes, that was the only correspondence I received in regard to this. Does this mean that I could potentially sue them for 3x the amount of my deposit? I know you will think I am a turd (in your words) for considering this, but I am moving out in less than a month and I would like to stick two fingers up to my rude and greedy landlord.

Its ridiculous typical governemnt bollocks - like is said above a one - two page pdf with a weblink is more than adequate of tightly packed minisucle bullshit that no one ever reads.

I'm going though this with my landlord. I WAS GIVEN A SECTION 21 DUE TO LANDLORD WANTING TO MOVE BACK IN. But now I am having to fight it because the council will jot help me and are encouraging tenants to claim the money back. The law was not followed by the landlord and I'm sure if I did something wrong like not pay my rent she would do the same. You are all money grabbing piece's of shits. Thank you

I have many deposits with the DPS and have always given tenants an A4 piece of paper advising where their deposit is and how to access the scheme online to manage their deposit when they vacate. I certainly haven't given out all of the information the kind gentleman has added download links for further up. Does this mean that any notice I serve is invalid if I end up with a tenant that challenges it? Is there anything that can be done to rectify this error because if not how would I ever serve a successful notice on current tenants in my properties? TIA

Ditto to what Kate said.
Does anybody know?
I've got new tenants moving in and this time I'm doing everything myself without any letting agent, so I was doing more research when I stumbled upon this fab blog/website. My existing tenants have been in now a little over a year and I've informed them reg the DPS, but I certainly didn't print out 14+ pages of bullshit. Where do I stand with them now??
I have got rent protection insurance, but that maybe invalid, because I didn't comply with the law. Even though the law is a jackass in this case. Can I do anything now to rectify this?
Thanks

This article is appalling, referring to Tennant's as turds etc. They pay you money for probably living in poorly maintained properties, as king for repairs etc that take forever.
Personally as someone who in their lifetime has paid nearly £200,000 and shafted on deposit by every landlord.
Turds are the fat cat greedy individuals who see dollar signs when they blink! LANDLORDS!!
Tenants merely fight their rights, trying to survive.
Besides which if its that difficult with turd tenants....GET A DIFFERENT CAREER.

Well said Emma 21/10/2014, money grabbing pieces of sh@t they are, praying on societies most vulnerable.
What lovely people they must be to know...... Not, eugh, greed is so ugly

I don't want your newsletter, I think what you say is disgusting about tenants, without societies vulnerable you wouldn't be filthy rich! Yuk, awful, mercenary and give it time, the tenants are communicating, thats
what the landlords and letting agents are unaware of...yet, cannot wait myself, tee hee!!

If you do not like what is discussed on this site may I suggest you remove yourself and find a tenants discussion forum !

This article is disingenuous and promotes bad practice amongst landlords, all whilst typifying the blame culture that the author attempts to criticise.

Complying with the deposit rules is pretty simply: you protect in one of 3 authorised schemes within 30 days and you provide your tenants with the certificate proving that you've protected the deposit and a small guidance leaflet. It is neither 'pages and pages' or particular dense material. Considering the commitment you are making to allow a tenant into your property, there is really no excuse for not complying with that extra bit of paperwork, especially since the government has been trying to clean that area up and have implemented some pretty harsh penalties to do so.

Also, on the topic of what Benji suggested someone do if faced with this issue: you would be incredibly stupid to try to challenge the tenant to go the court route. The nature of the claim means that the court costs will easily go to about £1,500 (it isn't a small claim), your conduct is taken into account by the judge when setting the figure of the penalty and there is a good chance you'll be liable for most of the court fees too because it's fairly easy to prove if a landlord hasn't complied with the law in this area. If a landlord is reading this, far better to try to negotiate a settlement for as low as you can and get the tenant to sign a settlement agreement.

'A recent Court of Appeal decision imposed the maximum penalty on a landlord (3 x the deposit amount) because he DIDN’T provide ALL the prescribed information relating to the protection of the deposit to the tenant.'

The Localism Act didn't apply to the facts of this case (which were pre-2011), as is mentioned repeatedly in the judgment. They therefore didn't impose the maximum penalty on the landlord: they imposed the only penalty on the landlord that the legislation allowed(3x).

'If the landlord didn’t provide any information regarding the protection of the deposit, then that’s another issue. But as it turns out, the information that was omitted by the landlord was in fact publicly available, and could have been found easily by the tenant on their own.'

This was also dealt with in the judgment: the legislation clearly states that it is the landlord's responsibility to provide this information. Whether a tenant is capable of accessing it himself is irrelevant. And if it is that easy to access, there is really no good reason for not supplying it considering the penalties associated with non-compliance.

'Being a landlord is already convoluted enough with all the bullshit legal obligations and junk,'

This is kind of thing that promotes bad practice because it encourages landlords not to take their legal obligations seriously in favour of an illusory moral superiority to what the law should be. In the government discussions (which are available in parliamentary notes and via Hansard) that accompanied these laws, there were good reasons put forward for the severity of the penalty (and note, not claim or compensation) to be imposed by the courts for non-compliance, the main one being the necessity to clean up an area that was regularly abused by landlords.

'When it was initially made clear that the "prescribed information" was required to be served, there was a lot of confusion to what exactly that consisted of. It was a grey area, because it hadn't been specified or really tested.'

The case that you cite was heard in 2012. The Housing Act 2004 made clear that 'prescribed information' was required to be served, and this was defined fairly well in The Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007 that you've linked to. Are you suggesting that between 2007 and March 2012, that there wouldn't have been online guides, blogs or discussion groups for landlords detailing what would need to be done to ensure they were compliant? And if not, surely consulting a lawyer on statutory interpretation would have cleared up the issue sufficiently to be able to guard against such claims?

'Complying with the deposit rules is simple and clearer "NOW", but that's only been the case until recently, and it definitely wasn't when the article was written.'

I'm assuming that the article was written in 2013 based upon the first comment (feel free to correct this) and therefore after the Localism Act. In which case the main change between now and when that article was written would be the Superstrike case and the Deregulation Act, both of which primarily deal with whether Prescribed Information needed to be re-issued when an assured shorthold tenancy converted to a statutory periodic tenancy. As your post doesn't deal with this issue, I'm not sure what's clearer now that wasn't when the article was written?

I moved into my house on april 2012 and had 6 month tenancy. That ended on 10/12. Now I stayed on and am still here as of may 2015 so that 3 years i've been here. I gave landlord £400 deposit. He never ever told me anything else about it after I payed? Does he owe me it? I'm still in his house and happy here but I wonder where my deposit is as I searched the sites you provided and can't find it??? Thanks Dawood

I am trying to find information about the process of using the deposit to pay for the extensive damage done to my rental property by tenants who have moved out recently. I am so disappointed, they seemed like lovely people. Anyway, they have agreed responsibility verbally when we went through the inventory. Now I have dehumidifiers drying the place out before all the floors can be replaced (!) and I won't know the final cost until it is all done.
First time I have been in this situation, so what do I actually do? I only once had to withhold money and that time I passed an account to the tenant, we agreed it was reasonable and I paid them the balance, but that was before the scheme.
Do I get on with the repairs at my expense and then start a claim?
The deposit is with DPS and I did pass on the details & a leaflet. I can't find info on their website.

Thanks in advance.
Trying to be a decent landlord but am constantly astonished at the way some people treat property!

Can you advise me please.
My beloved mother passed away in September 2011, I did not want to sell her home as I was still to emotionally connected to it.
I rented the property to people who my husband knew through work, who at the time were financially struggling so we let them rent for £100.00 a month below the rental value.
They signed a tenancy agreement and signed an inventory with me before they moved in.
I was (foolishly) guided by them as they had rented most of there working lives. I advised no animals as I have an allergy to cats.

Everything seemed fine for the first 2 years, I became aware that every time I wanted to check the house (minimised this for them to twice a year) it was inconvient on nights sleeping, had visitors etc.. I later quite by chance got a photo posted from a neighbour of them with a cat on the windowsill in the house. They denied having a cat but we saw more evidence later. I was so upset about this, and about the fact they had lied to me.

I noticed the gardens were no longer being cared for and that our tenants had become dismissive of us.

I did not know heat to do so after talking it through we put the rent up to the market value April 2016 hoping this would encourage them to leave. It worked they finally left June 2016.
It was a difficult parting as she refused to speak to us and stood out on the street whilst we tried to speak with her very charming and amenable partner....we later discovered he had not paid the final two months rent.
They have dunce argued we did not protect there deposit in a DPS we had never heard of this...however, we did not take a deposit when they initially moved in?
Can I take them to court, will the judge fine me for not having this DPS set up? Guidance much appreciated
Thank you.

Hi Kate,

If you didn't take a deposit at any point then you can't be fined for not protecting it. (Apart from anything else, the maximum penalty is 3 x the deposit, and 3 x 0 = a big fat nothing!) The only way you could conceivably be on the hook would be if your erstwhile tenants were able to produce evidence that they'd paid you something that looked like a deposit.

As regards pursuing the two months' outstanding rent, you can do it but you may well decide it's not worth the heartache and it's better to write it off to experience. You've learned the hard way that letting a property you're emotionally attached to and letting to friends are both often paths to sorrow. However, if you think the sum involved is worth the hassle then by all means lob a Letter Before Action at them and see where it gets you.

I had tenants move in in 2014 but did not secure their deposit through ignorance on my part, however when we renewed the contract this year I deposited it in a scheme within the 30 days and have issued the paperwork within 30 days of depositing it, the tenant is asking for compensation, I am wondering whether I should make an offer or put my case to a judge and let him decide?

Separate to this, he has threatened to burn down the house, theatened to withhold rent and trash the place, but I have no grounds to ask him to leave, any advice on this please?

What if you were stupid enough to waive the deposits as a personal favour to the rouge tenant :-(..... I presume then we don't need to advice about the tenants deposit stuff

I'm a landlord. I went through a letting agency to obtain a tenant. The tenant paid the agency a bond. Then the agency folded and went out of existence and surprise surprise we couldn't trace the bond. We took on the tenant with no bond and signed a contract to this effect. However we need the house back for personal reasons so issued a section 21. However the section 21 is invalid as the bond is not protected. Obviously the letting agent did not protect it. Now the tenant is saying that they are seeking compensation for 3 x the deposit. My argument is that in good faith we thought the letting agency would have done that. However they haven't, so my next action is to protect the bond even though we haven't received one so that the section 21 is valid. Is this too late to do, considering we have only just found out the deposit was not protected? Surely I can't be liable for 3 times the amount or will the court side on the tenant? Also if I protect the bond (which I never received) will the section 21 become valid?

I've had tenants in my property for at least a year but never knew about the deposit.

Can I renew the agreement and submit the deposit within 30 days makong sure it is done properly or can I simply make renew the contract and give the depsoit back in full.

Thanks in advance.

Ok so I moved a tennant in and secured their deposit but did not give them any info about it and its beem 6 months. Also protected the deposit for 3 months and then this changed to a periodic tenancy after 3 months. Rents been getting late so thought about section 21 till I came accross all this info. I am thinking of offering new better terms to tenant. Knock £50 off rent. Give them deposit back then get them to send it back to me and re take deposit. Get them to sign a new agreement. Protect deposit give them info! Happy days or not so happy days? Am I mad? Yes I can see pitfall I give it them back and they say thanks very much but I dont think that would happen.

I'm a contractor working away from home in digs for 2 yrs now with 3 other blokes.
2 paid deposit 5-yrs ago when first moved in. they now leaving and claiming back deposit and say us newer ones have to pay the deposit in to cover theirs. Surely as we have been there long time and have renewed contracts, we are not legally bound to now cough up extra to cover their deposit. Nowhere in contracts was this stipulated.

I am taking over management from my letting agent. We are both using the same deposit scheme and I've received notification that the deposit has been transferred. Do I need to re-issue all the prescribed information or just the certificate/details?

Hi Girls and Guys

I've just served a section 21 6a on my tenant but missed a few steps of the section 21 at the start of the let . the deposit went in ok and tenant was given a massage with the details of the payment into the scheme, i had an energy efficiency certificate and tenant wrights info but never gave it to them till a week after i sent the section 21 will this affect the court proceedings and if so what do i need to do to put all right ? thanks in advance for your help

Once I received the deposit (apparently just over 30 days after tenants paid the deposit to the agents from the agents I immediately protected it and provided the tenants with the certificate and required information.

I acted in good faith believing I had 30 days to protect the deposit once received. The agents never told me the date they received the deposit from the tenants or that I had to protect it even though I had not received it.

I deducted a fair small amount from the tenants deposit and now received a letter from solicitors advising me that I did not protect the deposit sent to the agents and not to me.

Can I be liable even though in good faith I did protect the deposit upon receipt from the agents?