A new ‘Guide to Tenancy Deposits, Disputes and Damages’ has been jointly published by all three government authorised tenancy deposit protection schemes.

Since 2007 some 47,000 disputes have been settled by the schemes’ alternative dispute resolution processes. The pooling of information on these disputes and their eventual outcomes has allowed the schemes to identify common issues and to work together to publish collective guidelines.

The guide covers items, such as the collation of evidence and what an adjudicator looks for when considering a dispute. It also outlines the principles on which scheme adjudicators make decisions so that the process is consistent and transparent for letting agent, landlord and tenant alike.

Download the Guide to Tenancy Deposits, Disputes and Damages.

As of 1st of October 2010 all tenants who have been paying rent £25,000 – £100,000 per year (£480.80 -1,923.08 per week) for their main residency will automatically get Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) status.

The landlords will formally have to protect the deposits on these tenancies. Your landlord must provide you with prescribed information about the scheme (either custodial – DPS – or insurance based scheme – TDS, TDSL) within 14 days from when the new regulation comes into force. 

Update: Comment from Nick (Pimlico-Flats):

This is not actually true. Department of Communities and Local Government have stated:

“We do not consider that deposits taken before 1 October will need to be protected as these were not taken in connection with a shorthold tenancy and therefore do not meet the criteria for protection specified in the Housing Act 2004.”

However that is merely the Government’s position, it is actually up to the Courts to make a ruling.

In the First Interim Report for 2010 by the Property Ombudsman reports a sharp increase in the number of new referrals to the office during the period 1 January to 31 March. Compared to the last quarter of 2009, the number of complaints in lettings has risen from 102 to 171.

Here’s a few cases from the report that might interest you:

Holding Deposit
The Complainant was in the process of renting the property and had paid a holding deposit of £350. He raised a complaint against the letting agent after he was informed he had failed the referencing checks and would need to put forward a guarantor to enable the let to go ahead. As he did not wish to bring in a guarantor, he was refused the let and his request for the holding deposit to be refunded was rejected by the agent, although he has said the agent offered him £175 as a gesture of goodwill, which he believed was an ‘absurd offer’.
Read the report to find out how the problem was resolved.

Holding Deposit/Complaints Handling
The Complainant was a prospective tenant who had paid a holding deposit of £250 to secure the property. He had also provided the letting agent the details for his references. Twelve days later the Complainant discovered that due to an alleged computer error the references had not been logged.
Read the report to find out how the problem was resolved.

Referencing/Holding Deposit
Straightforward transaction between the Complainants (the prospective tenants) and the member agent, which became contentious following the landlord rejecting the Complainants’ initial references and requesting that guarantors were provided, which resulted in the transaction breaking down. The member agent sought to retain the Complainants’ holding deposit on the basis that they had explained the terms and conditions of that payment to them during a telephone conversation. Whilst their progress notes did record that these terms and conditions were discussed, the Complainants contested the agent’s account of the conversation.
Read the report to find out how the problem was resolved.

Administration Fees
The Complainants were landlords who had paid the letting agent a fee to prepare the Tenancy Agreement on their behalf. After the tenancy had commenced they discovered that the letting agent had also charged the tenant the same amount (£170 + VAT) for the preparation of the Tenancy Agreement. The agent claimed that their terms were clear in both the Management and Tenancy Agreements and thus they had not done anything illegal. The Complainants however, believed that the money taken from the tenants should be payable to them and not the agent, as the agent was not a party to the Tenancy Agreement, and had acted in a misleading and deceptive manner.
Read the report to find out how the problem was resolved.

The Property ombudsman TPO offers an independent service for the resolution of disputes between member agencies and buyers, sellers, landlords, leaseholders, lessees and tenants of property in the UK. The service is free to complainants.

The National Federation of Property Professionals NFOPP has produced some video guides on renting in the UK.

Click on the title to watch the videos:

- All about tenancies
- Deposit Protection
- Understanding your Energy Performance Certificate
- Inventories
- Why choose an ARLA agent?

NFOPP TV

An important press release from one of the tenancy deposit protection services:

Urgent statement: “mytenancydeposit.co.uk”
04 June 2009

MTD Secure Limited trading as mytenancydeposit.co.uk is NOT part of  Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited (TDSL) (trading as mydeposits.co.uk).

This company does NOT operate a Government-authorised Scheme for the protection of tenants’ deposits within England and Wales. The three official Schemes are:

* Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited trading as mydeposits.co.uk
* The Dispute Service, also known as the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (www.thedisputeservice.co.uk)
* The Deposit Protection Service (www.depositprotection.com)

These are the ONLY 3 Schemes where landlords and letting agents can legally protect their tenants’ deposits.

The claim that “MTD Secure Limited is a company administering a tenancy deposit protection scheme by Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited under contract from Communities & Local Government” is NOT true.

Any letting agent and/or landlord using this company should be aware that their deposits will NOT be protected. You should immediately use one of the three Schemes above with which to comply with the law. Not protecting with one of the three Government-authorised Schemes can lead to penalties for the landlord.

If you have already deposited funds with this company, you should seek legal advice immediately.

Always take photographs before you move in!

These photos could become an important piece of evidence when you are claiming back your deposit at the end of the tenancy. You will never know which details your landlord will be looking at, so we would advise you to back your check-in inventory list with the visuals just in case.

Take photos of:
- each room from a few different angles;
- unclean spots, changed colours, broken furniture, and everything that seems not quite right.

It is very important to make sure:
- to take photos before signing the agreement or taking the keys – you want to add them to the inventory list which you will be handing to the landlord to sign;
- the photos should reflect the exact state in which you are receiving the rental. If some furniture piece is going to be removed after you move in – make sure it’s written down on the inventory list.

Advice inspired by Rentergirl’s writing in Guardian: Moving out can mean it’s curtains for common sense

The latest research from The Deposit Protection Service (DPS) reveals that Westminster remains the most expensive area in the UK, measured by the average deposit demanded by landlords. The average deposit has fallen slightly in the past six months, from £1,909 to £1,890.

View from a flat in Marylebone

Wow – more than half of all disputes sent to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme involve cleaning!

TDS has just published a series of case studies of disputes between landlords and tenants over deposit monies due. Read the case studies HERE.

A few facts from TDS:
- since April 2007, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme has resolved 3,567 disputes;
- at the end of January, the Scheme was safeguarding £757 million in deposits, covering 768,171 tenancies.
- More than half of all disputes, 52%, sent to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme involve cleaning;
- over a third, 45%, are occasioned by damage;
- in over 25% of all cases by the need for redecoration;
- the average amount of a deposit covered by the Scheme is £1,079;
- the average disputed amount is £601;

So make sure you are present and take the check-in inspection very seriously!

Regarding cleanliness – do take a note of all the stains when you move in to your new place. It would be reasonable to take photographic evidence just so there would be no misunderstandings when you are moving out. And keep it clean!

People skiing on Vauxhall Bridge Rd (c) DPS Flickr

Skiing is not the only new and exciting sports for Londoners these days.

Apparently the latest craze is blackmailing the landlord who has failed to register the deposit within 14 days after signing the tenancy agreement. Daily Mail reports that for 3 times the deposit money many tenants are actually hoping and waiting for the landlord to miss the deadline to register or notify the tenants.

There’s no excuse for the landlord not following the procedures but that’s just ridiculous.

Now landlords are relieved to hear that a letting agency has just won a case against some students exploiting the loophole in the law, read it HERE.

MyDeposits.co.uk advises tenants to be careful, should they decide to throw a party in their rented property during this holiday season. They say that cleaning costs are one of the most common reasons for landlords withholding all or part of a deposit at the end of a tenancy, accounting for 38 per cent of all deposit disputes!

Tenants should protect easily damaged fixtures and fittings from overzealous party guests and the first rule is – shoes off at the front door!

Tenants can avoid expensive cigarette burns in the carpets by asking guests to smoke outside. Moving precious objects into a room which is shut off from the party will protect them from the dangers of vigorous dancing.

David Salusbury, Chairman, mydeposits.co.uk, commenting on the hidden hazards of festive parties, said:

“Christmas and New Year gatherings pose a number of hazards which could cause tenants to lose their deposits. A hangover may only last a day but tenants could find themselves paying for a festive party months after the fun has ended.

“Tenants who prepare by taking simple steps to protect the properties they rent will avoid costly accidents and ensure that the festive period passes without incident.”

Renters are advised to not to pay rent up front for more than 1 month when moving into a property, unless they have proof that the landlord has not fallen behind with his mortgage payments. The number of buy-to-let investors who are in arrears, and face losing their property, has soared in the last 3 months.

Chris and Siobhan Taylor rented a five-bedroom house in Loughton, Essex, in August. They paid £48,000 upfront for the year after being offered a £6,000 discount. Now settled in, they have discovered that their landlord is already tens of thousands of pounds behind on his mortgage repayments.

‘We are feeling very vulnerable. We had no idea when we rented the property that this could happen. We just assumed that everything was OK. We face losing all our money and our deposit, or having to go to court, should the lender want to repossess during our one-year tenancy,’ says Siobhan, 39.

The Taylors have fallen into a gaping hole in the legislation covering tenants. As their rent is more than £25,000 a year, they had to sign a standard tenancy contract, not an assured shorthold tenancy contract, which would have given them a raft of protection.

It also means their initial £7,850 deposit was given directly to the landlord rather than being held by a third party under the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme.

Read the whole story at MailOnline.

It would normally be up to the letting agent to check that the landlord’s lender knows about the property being rented out but do not count on it – it would be wise to always ask for some sort of proof on paper.

Attention, teenagers, and others young at heart – if you’ve never heard of tenancy deposit protection before, click here.

The Landlord Law Blog writes of an interesting case in hand.

A London tenant is bringing a claim against his former landlords and their agents, who took over 5 months into the contract to register the deposit.

Under the UK Housing Law agents or landlord must protect the deposit taken within 14 days from receipt of the deposit from the tenant.

The tenant has filed a claim in West London County Court for 3x the deposit as per law.

Make sure that your deposit is protected!