DPC Certificate

alcaponey1982

Hello, newbie here, just after some advice.

We rented a property for 6 months from a private landlord via a letting agent. We initially had a 6 month AST and we were issued correctly with the Deposit Protection Certificate (which had the dates from and to on, as per the AST agreement.

After the initial 6 months we then went into a new 24 month AST and signed new paperwork to this effect. We were not however issued with a new DPC. Now I have read on several other places that you have to be issued a new DPC when you sign another new tenancy agreement (which makes sense as the dates on the one I have are now way out).

I have checked our DPC number on the relevant sites and under my deposit website (these are the people involved with our deposit) it shows as our certificate being active and deposit being covered?

Who has broken the law here by not issuing us another certificate as I have seen other people mention this is a breach of the agreement as we were never issued another certificate (this was 18 months ago so we are well past the 30 day period you get from a new cert being issued).

When I rang my deposit they seemed rather cagey about giving me all the information and started recording my phone call as I could hear the line starting to beep. Who is responsible for making sure we get a new certificate to match the tenancy dates?

Ironically the paperwork I have as well from the original certificate clearly states the following
"This Certificate is valid for the duration of the fixed term AST agreement (details below). If at the end of this agreement any of the terms change or you sign a new AST agreement then your landlord/agent must re-protect your deposit and issue you a new Certificate."

Any advice or who I could speak to to get this in concrete would be much appreciated.

SWSteve

When you say you rang your deposit and the seemed cagey and started recording, what exactly do you mean?

What deposit scheme is it supposed to be with?

alcaponey1982

I'm basically saying that the deposit is in an insured scheme with a company called "My Deposit".

But I have been advised by someone that we should have a new certificate if we have signed up to the a new AST after the initial 6 months. (which we did)

The only cert I have says it was valid until Feb 2017, we signed another 2 year lease in Feb 2017 and never got another cert? When I called the deposit company up to ask them why I had no new cert sent to me, they tried to tell me its like a blanket setup, so its just ongoing (Surely this would only be if I went into a STP?) and kept trying to push me back to ringing the letting agent?

Someone here has messed up and it all sounds a little odd at the moment.

G_M

There is no legal requirement any more for a deposit to be re-registered when a tenancy
* renews via a new fixed term contract or
* 'rolls over' into a periodic tenancy.

Since the deposit requirements were first introduced by the Housing Act 2004, they has been amended first by the Localism Act 2011, & then the Deregulation Act 2015 - this may be the cause of your confusion.

Who has broken the law here by not issuing us another certificate

Strange wording of the question - clearly if the law had been broken in this way, it would have been by the landlord!

However, provided your deposit remains registered with one of the schemes, no one has broken the law.

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

alcaponey1982

I beg to differ on what you said G_M - This is taken from the My deposit website under their own T&C's

C4 End date of the fixed term of the AST
C4.1 Prior to the end date of the fixed term AST, as
provided to the scheme at protection, you must
inform us whether the AST is due to terminate,
continue on an SPT or be renewed with a new
fixed term. If the member does not update the
protection by 30 calendar days after the end date
of the tenancy, then the scheme will automatically
un-protect the deposit and inform the tenant.
NB1: Once the deposit has been automatically un-protected it cannot
be reinstated by the scheme. The member will have to purchase a
new protection.
NB2: Members who use our online system will be provided with
a number of notifications that the AST (and deposit protection) is
due to end. If the member has not provided us with an email address
then they will receive postal reminders. We will not automatically
un-protect a deposit without notifying the member first.
C4.2 A new protection is NOT required if the original
fixed term of the AST continues as a SPT (or other
periodic tenancy) however the member must make
us aware that the original fixed term continued into
an SPT within 30 calendar days of the end of the
fixed term.

C4.3 A new protection IS required when a member gives
the same tenant(s) a new fixed term tenancy. The
new tenancy may be created by letter, transfer,
assignment, memorandum, agreement, or any
other device. In this situation the deposit must be
renewed/re-protected and the relevant protection
fee paid. We may reject a deposit dispute if we
find that the member has not re-protected the
deposit after providing the tenant(s) with a new fixed
term tenancy.

Comms69

alcaponey1982 wrote: »

I beg to differ on what you said G_M - This is taken from the My deposit website under their own T&C's

C4 End date of the fixed term of the AST
C4.1 Prior to the end date of the fixed term AST, as
provided to the scheme at protection, you must
inform us whether the AST is due to terminate,
continue on an SPT or be renewed with a new
fixed term. If the member does not update the
protection by 30 calendar days after the end date
of the tenancy, then the scheme will automatically
un-protect the deposit and inform the tenant.
NB1: Once the deposit has been automatically un-protected it cannot
be reinstated by the scheme. The member will have to purchase a
new protection.
NB2: Members who use our online system will be provided with
a number of notifications that the AST (and deposit protection) is
due to end. If the member has not provided us with an email address
then they will receive postal reminders. We will not automatically
un-protect a deposit without notifying the member first.
C4.2 A new protection is NOT required if the original
fixed term of the AST continues as a SPT (or other
periodic tenancy) however the member must make
us aware that the original fixed term continued into
an SPT within 30 calendar days of the end of the
fixed term.

C4.3 A new protection IS required when a member gives
the same tenant(s) a new fixed term tenancy. The
new tenancy may be created by letter, transfer,
assignment, memorandum, agreement, or any
other device. In this situation the deposit must be
renewed/re-protected and the relevant protection
fee paid. We may reject a deposit dispute if we
find that the member has not re-protected the
deposit after providing the tenant(s) with a new fixed
term tenancy.

What exactly are you hoping to achieve?


You don't need to be issued with anything, and MyDeposits is just an authorised private company; they do not make the law.

alcaponey1982

Comms69 wrote: »

What exactly are you hoping to achieve?


You don't need to be issued with anything, and MyDeposits is just an authorised private company; they do not make the law.

I'm hoping to take legal action against the letting agents as my deposit has been protected in the WRONG way. And as for your comment about them just being a private company, fair enough, they are, but all T&C's are there for a reason? You cant just say they don't make the law! Im saying someone here has not stuck to the T&C's like they should.

"This Certificate is valid for the duration of the fixed term AST agreement (details below). If at the end of this agreement any of the terms change or you sign a new AST agreement then your landlord/agent must re-protect your deposit and issue you a new Certificate."

I NEVER GOT A NEW CERTIFICATE, so why has the agency signed the original one which has this statement at the top?

Comms69

alcaponey1982 wrote: »

I'm hoping to take legal action against the letting agents as my deposit has been protected in the WRONG way. - unfortunately your LL would be the one liable, you could take both to court, but taking your landlords agent to court would be more risky as they would just pass liability on. And as for your comment about them just being a private company, fair enough, they are, but all T&C's are there for a reason? - ok. and? You cant just say they don't make the law! Im saying someone here has not stuck to the T&C's like they should. - yes I can, and did, say that. You are not party to the T&Cs between landlord and mydeposits.

"This Certificate is valid for the duration of the fixed term AST agreement (details below). If at the end of this agreement any of the terms change or you sign a new AST agreement then your landlord/agent must re-protect your deposit and issue you a new Certificate." - Excellent.

I NEVER GOT A NEW CERTIFICATE, so why has the agency signed the original one which has this statement at the top?

Best of luck, you clearly only want to hear one thing.


When your legal action fails, and it will, let us know the result

G_M

alcaponey1982 wrote: »

I beg to differ on what you said G_M - This is taken from the My deposit website under their own T&C's

....

There is a difference between

* the law, as laid down by Statute. See the links I provided and read the leglislation

* the internal processes of a specific scheme. The scheme may require re-registration (to justify their repeat fee!), but that does not mean the law requires it.


Now, it may be that by the LL failing to follow the scheme's own process, that scheme has unprotected and returned the deposit. In that case, the deposit law has been broken since the deposit is unprotected.

But as I said previously:

However, provided your deposit remains registered with one of the schemes, no one has broken the law.

As for the failure to issue a new certificate, again - the scheme may require this but the law no longer does.


You may,of course, continue to beg to differ. Whether you accept my advice and/or my interpretation of the law is up to you - this is a public forum and I'm just a random guy on the internet after all. But I've provided the source material so you need to do uour own research and make up your own mind. I shall not be contributing further as I'd simply be repeating myself pointlessly.