Assured Shorthold Tenancies | The Law and You

The Law

It is common practice for a landlord, or their agent, to take a deposit as a safeguard should problems occur during your tenancy and you breach the terms of your contract e.g. your failure to pay rent or if you cause damage to the property.

Since the 6 April 2007 all landlords and agents who take deposits from tenants in England and Wales under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) agreement must protect the deposit in an authorised deposit protection scheme. Your landlord or agent must protect the deposit within 30 days of receiving it. The law was introduced to help ensure that you are able to recover their deposit at the end of their tenancy less any amount that the landlord, or their agent, can prove a legal entitlement to withhold.

If you are unhappy with the amount of the deposit returned by your landlord at the end of the tenancy then you can raise a dispute and make a claim on the disputed deposit amount. The Housing Act 2004 states that the deposit remains the Tenant’s money, regardless of the fact that you have handed it to your landlord. However, this is subject to any lawful claim the landlord may have to the deposit money. The landlord should provide evidence as to why any of the deposit amount is being withheld at the end of the tenancy.

mydeposits offers an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service should you and your landlord be unable to agree the amount of the deposit to be returned to you. If ADR is not agreed to by both parties then the dispute will have to be resolved through the Courts.

Prescribed Information

Your landlord must also provide you with key information relating to the deposit protection, called the Prescribed Information. This includes details about the scheme used to protect the deposit, instructions about disputes and key contact information. We provide our members with the majority of this information in the Deposit Protection Certificate that is produced when your landlord or agent protects a new deposit, along with the Information for Tenants guide. Your landlord or letting agent should provide you with this information within 30 days of taking the deposit.

Penalties

Your landlord must protect the deposit with an authorised deposit protection scheme within 30 days of receiving the deposit. Failure to do this can result in the following penalties should you decide to take the landlord to Court:

• Your landlord will be unable to obtain a Court Order to regain possession of the property (under Section 21 of the Housing  Act 1988) unless and until the deposit is protected.

• Your landlord will be required to either return the deposit to you or to lodge the full amount with the authorised custodial tenancy deposit scheme.

• Your landlord may be instructed to pay you compensation equal to three times the amount of the deposit within 14 days of a Court Order.

About mydeposits

mydeposits is one of three government-authorised deposit protection schemes. Landlords and agents can join mydeposits and pay protection fees to protect deposits. This protection enables them to hold on to deposits for the duration of the AST, and then return any agreed amount to you at the end.