National property lawyers, Goldsmith Williams, have issued a timely warning to Landlords to be sure to comply with the law relating to Deposit Protection Schemes.
Paul Cahill, Solicitor with Goldsmith Williams commented: “We have recently been involved in a case where a Landlord did not comply with the current strict legal obligations and ended up being ordered to repay the deposit, plus an additional sum equivalent to 2.5 times the deposit in compensation.
If you are new to being a landlord you may not be aware of your strict obligations in relation to tenancy deposits. It is your statutory obligation to register the deposit in one of the government-backed tenancy deposit schemes within 30 days of receipt.
Once you have registered the deposit, you must then disclose the following information to your tenant (also within 30 days of receipt):
1) the address of the rented property
2) how much deposit you’ve paid
3) how the deposit is protected
4) the name and contact details of the tenancy deposit protection (TDP) scheme and its dispute resolution service
5) their (or the letting agency’s) name and contact details
6) the name and contact details of any third party that’s paid the deposit
7) why they would keep some or all of the deposit
8) how to apply to get the deposit back
9) what to do if you can’t get hold of the landlord at the end of the tenancy
10) what to do if there’s a dispute over the deposit”
