If you’re a renter, it’s highly likely you would’ve paid a tidy sum of money as a deposit to move into your new home.
Once you’ve transferred the cash over, it is then up to your landlord to move your deposit into a Government-backed scheme.
These are known as tenancy deposit protection (TDP) schemes and if your landlord doesn’t use one, they could end up owing you hundreds of pounds.
TDP schemes apply if you’re signed up to an assured shorthold tenancy that started after April 6, 2007.
The idea is that they protect landlords from unfairly keeping the cash of their tenants if they’ve not damaged their property and paid their bills.
Your deposit must be placed in a registered scheme within 30 days of your landlord receiving it.
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Stuart Miles, Associate in the Dispute Resolution team at Hodge Jones & Allen, explained how the tenant could take their landlord to court if they fail to protect their deposit.
He said: “They could be ordered by the court to return the deposit to the tenant, as well as paying the tenant up to three times the amount of the deposit as compensation.
“It can also invalidate any section 21 notice served on the tenant, making it not as easy for a landlord to recover possession of the property through no fault evictions.”
If you suspect your landlord hasn’t protected your deposit, the first thing you should do is speak to them.
You could even work with a mediator to try and settle the matter.
“If this is successful, you can save yourself a lot of time and money that can accumulate if you were to take the matter to court,” said Aemilia Duberry, Business Law Legal Assistant at Atkins Dellow.
“If you cannot come to an agreement with your landlord, you can apply to your local county court for compensation.
“To apply to the court, you will need to complete Form N208 which can be found on the government website and there will be a court fee of £308 to pay.
“You can claim this back from your landlord if your claim is successful.”
To find out more information about finding legal advice and information you can visit the Gov.uk website. Again, legal action should be as a last resort.
The registered TDP schemes in England and Wales are:
There are separate TDP schemes in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
If you’ve paid a holding deposit for a tenancy you’ve yet to sign, then this doesn’t need to be locked into a TDP scheme.
