Deregulation Act and tenancy deposits – Are you properly protected?

More than 300,000 tenancy deposits are at risk of being affected by an upcoming change in legislation.

As of June 23rd, the Deregulation Act will apply to landlords who have existing tenancies that started before Tenancy Deposit Protection was introduced in England and Wales.

Some 330,000 existing rental agreements will be affected by this change and landlords could be fined if they fail to move deposits into an approved protection scheme and provide their tenants with the necessary prescribed information and relevant terms and conditions.

It is important that landlords are aware of the legislation changes and how it affects them. They must act now and check whether they need to protect any deposits and avoid a fine.

Any tenancy that began prior to April 6th 2007 and has since rolled into a Statutory Periodic Tenancy must have a protected deposit as of June 23rd. The change does not apply to rental agreements where the deposit was taken before April 6th 2007 and the tenancy became periodic before this date. However, the money will need to be placed in a protection scheme if the landlord or letting agents wish to regain possession of the property through a section 21 notice.

To avoid any doubt about the deposit then the belt and braces approach is to protect it and provide your tenant with all the relevant information as soon as possible.

According to recent research almost 48 per cent of landlords struggle to keep up with changes in legislation and as such can unwittingly fall foul of the law.

If you have any questions about the upcoming changes or indeed protecting tenant deposits in general please feel free to contact us.