A key ruling that affects landlords:
The Court of Appeal has ruled that as long as landlords have registered their deposit into one of the deposit protection schemes (and provided the “prescribed information”) any time before a Court hears the case, the landlord will avoid the penalty – currently three times the deposit amount.
Clearly, this is good news for landlords. Landlord Action has seen many cases where a tenant has defended Court action because the landlord failed to put the deposit in a Government backed scheme. This ruling will minimise the incidence of these types of defences.
However, I still believe that it is good practice to always put the deposit into the scheme at the beginning of the tenancy. I will certainly be encouraging all of my landlords to do so – it is part of being a good landlord.
The scheme was designed to protect both landlords and tenants. It will only do that properly if deposits are placed in the scheme as early as possible.
So, although landlords have come out on top in this case, it is still the law to have the deposits protected (with Assured Shorthold Tenancies). Do not forget that key point…
Best,
Paul
