What's a tenancy protection scheme? Discussion

MSE_Jenny

Q. My landlord's putting my deposit into a tenancy scheme. What does this mean?

A. Since Apr 07 it's been a legal requirement that anyone who moves into rented accommodation in England and Wales (assured shorthold tenancy) costing up to £2,083/month has their deposit paid into a tenancy protection scheme.

It's just a storage pot, in between the landlord & tenant, so no one party can run off with the cash & if there's a dispute an independent body will hear it for free. There are three govt-approved schemes:

• mydeposit.co.uk (Tenancy Deposit Solutions
• thedisputeservice.co.uk (Tenancy Deposit Scheme)
• Deposit Protection Service

Yet be careful, some other schemes have similar names. If your deposit isn't held with one of these, either don’t hand over the money or contact your landlord urgently to say it is breaking the law. To enforce this sadly you'll need apply to a court, if you're stuck, speak to Citizens Advice.


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chicken_licken_3

Before having a baby, I worked for a letting agency and we used the Deposit Protection service, all our deposits were banked the same day and then the card holder for the bank account would pay in the deposits for the DPS the same day.

We rarely had problems, only once I can remember a major issue was the repayment ID we were given did not work for the deposit ID, which caused a delay for the tenant receiving their money back, I believe it was about 3 weeks before the DPS finally sorted it out.

We used to provide a letter for the tenant with their DPS ID and repayment ID along with the confirmation from the DPS.

We did hear horror stories from tenants about how deposits were never refunded willingly, deposits notr being returned at all etc.

I do think it is a good idea but the DPS is always a wait to get through to on the phone, that's my only real gripe and as long as it protects tenants, that's a good thing.

As I didn't work for the agency for very long, my opinion isn't particularlt objective I'm afraid!

Jill001

My daughter has been trying to get her deposit back from her agent for 7 weeks since the tenancy ended. The deposit is lodged with mydeposits but as there were 6 tenants and the deposit was registered in the lead person's name on the agreement mydeposits will only deal with the lead person and will not raise a dispute unless the lead person authorises them to do so.

The lead person fell out with the other tenants, left before the end of the tenancy, and is no longer in contact with any of them.

So in this instance, my daughter's cannot get her deposit back at all unless she pursues a claim through the small claims court.

Is this the only course of action, or is there anyway my daughter can use this scheme to return her deposit as the legislation that is there to protect tenants is not helping her at all?

I understand that where there is an tenancy with several tenants, the deposits can be registered in each persons individual name and if it had been done in this way there would not be a problem now. Probably the agents do not want to register 6 deposits as it is far easier to register just one.l

zzzLazyDaisy

Interesting. Did all six tenants have separate tenancy agreements, or were they all named as joint tenants on the same tenancy agreement? (Or was only the 'lead tenant' named on the tenancy agreement?)

Hopefully someone with specialist knowledge will be along soon to answer your question.

It seems to me that if the deposit was only registered in the name of the 'lead tenant' then the protection scheme is entitled to pay the full deposit out to that tenant (if that tenant had already left, didn't s/he ask for that part of the deposit back?). I'm not sure where that leaves the other tenants though.

Pegs109

I'm fairly certain our deposit hasn't gone into ANY protected scheme so Landlord is breaking the law? Our tenancy ends soon. I've heard from another ex-tenant they didn't get their deposit back. What can I do now to protect ourselves? Rather not approach landlord directly about this...

Jill001

The tenancy agreement was in all 6 names, the 'lead person' left 2 months before the tenancy ended. Under the terms of the agreement they would not have been entitled to the return of their deposit until the end of the agreement.

MyDeposits website states that where there is a joint tenancy the tenants have to nominate a 'lead person'. MyDeposits will only deal with that person.

I think the 'lead person' may have already raised a dispute with MyDeposits and as you suggest I think the whole deposit amount (£1,500) will be returned to them.

If that happens, the only option I see for my daughter and the other 5 tenants to then claim their deposits would be via the Small Claims Court.

zzzLazyDaisy

Jill001 wrote: »

T
If that happens, the only option I see for my daughter and the other 5 tenants to then claim their deposits would be via the Small Claims Court.

If the rules of the deposit scheme are that the joint tenants must appoint one lead tenant and that the scheme will only deal with that tenant, then it seems that the LL has complied with its obligations.

If that is the case, if the lead tenant then fails to return to the other tenants their share of the deposit, it looks like the only way forward is for the remaining tenants to commence a small claims action. Normally this is easy to do, and can be done on-line, although obviously they should write to the lead tenant with a letter before action first.

The problem would be if they no longer have an address or contact details for this person, as I doubt the deposit scheme would be prepared to provide this information owing to DPA concerns.

Jill001

If you contact each of the 3 deposit schemes at the top of this page and quote your name and address of property you have rented they will be able to tell you whether they have a deposit lodged (you can do it online with mydeposits).

Fishingtime

Pegs109 wrote: »

I'm fairly certain our deposit hasn't gone into ANY protected scheme so Landlord is breaking the law? Our tenancy ends soon. I've heard from another ex-tenant they didn't get their deposit back. What can I do now to protect ourselves? Rather not approach landlord directly about this...

The deposit company would have wrote to you,saying they are holding the deposit.
If the LL has not deposited the money I believe they can't issue a section 21 notice

chucknorris

Pegs109 wrote: »

I'm fairly certain our deposit hasn't gone into ANY protected scheme so Landlord is breaking the law? Our tenancy ends soon. I've heard from another ex-tenant they didn't get their deposit back. What can I do now to protect ourselves? Rather not approach landlord directly about this...

Your landlord is not only required to protect your deposit, he/she is also required to notify you and provide details of the particular scheme where it is protected. I use mydesposit.co.uk and they insist that you print off the deposit certificate and a fact sheet about the scheme and give it to the tenant, which of course I do.

If your landlord has not provided you with this information it indicates a high probablity that they have not protected your deposit.

clutton_2

the one important part of this legislation that is rarely mentioned is that neither landlord nor tenant are legally bound to use the Deposit Scheme Arbitration Service - and if either party refuses, then the other party has to take the matter before a judge in the small claims court.

This puts tenants back in the same position they were in prior to 2004 Act becoming law.