Knowing your rights
Even if you’re not looking to bring a claim at the moment or are not in any dispute with your current landlord, it is always good to know your rights and the rules your landlord should follow.
We are here to give you a straightforward guide to the tenancy deposit rules so you can make sure your deposit is kept safe.
What are the tenancy deposit rules?
The tenancy deposit rules are laws that state that a landlord should place a tenant’s deposit into a deposit protection scheme within 30 days of it being paid to them and inform the tenant of where the deposit is being held.
The 3 schemes are:
These schemes act as independent adjudicators who will determine if you are eligible for your deposit to be returned to you at the end of your tenancy. This stops landlords from running off with your deposit without a trace or withholding it for unjustified reasons.
Who do the tenancy deposit rules affect?
All tenants that have signed an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) agreement are protected by the tenancy deposit rules.
What if I’ve never been given a tenancy agreement?
If you have never been given a tenancy agreement, you may still be protected by the rules if the court believes the verbal agreement was intended to be an Assured shorthold Tenancy Agreement.
What constitutes a breach of the rules?
The tenancy deposit rules will have been breached if your deposit was protected late, i.e. 31 days or more after it was paid, or if the deposit was not protected at all.
What can happen if my landlord has breached the rules?
Where the rules have been breached, a tenant is entitled to claim up to 3x the value of the deposit per tenancy agreement. For example, if you have been given 4 tenancy agreements you can claim up to 12x your deposit.
You can also include your withheld deposit on top of this if this was not given back to you when you left the property.
How do I know if my deposit has been protected?
You can conduct online checks on the websites of the 3 deposit protection schemes:
This is completely free and takes no longer than 5 minutes.
Conclusion
If you are looking at renting in the future, we hope this guide has given you some useful information to bear in mind.
If your landlord has breached the tenancy deposit rules and you require professional legal assistance, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team. We will help you bring a claim against your landlord.
Start your claim 0151 306 3694