Legislation Changes when Protecting Deposits

The Deregulation Act 2015 comes into force on the 26^th March 2015 and clarifies earlier legislation in regards to protecting tenant’s deposits when moving into a property. The legislation it clarifies is the Housing [Tenancy Deposits] Prescribed Information Order 2007 and the Housing Act 2004.

There are four main changes that the Deregulation Act introduces:

1.

Deposits taken prior to 6^th April 2007 for tenancies that have since become periodic tenancies must now be protected in one of the government approved schemes.

2.

Where tenancies became periodic prior to 6^th April 2007 when the Housing (Tenancy Deposits) Prescribed Information Order came into force, the deposit does not have to be protected. However, a landlord will not be able to serve a Section 21 notice (under the Housing Act 2004) to regain possession of the property unless the deposit is protected and the tenant receives all the prescribed information.

3.

If a fixed term tenancy then rolls onto a periodic tenancy, the deposit does not have to be re-protected if all information is the same as the start of the tenancy (parties, premises, etc).

4.

This act has also clarified that ‘landlord’ within the tenancy deposit prescribed information includes anyone acting on the behalf of the landlord (for example, a letting agency).

Landlords have until 23^rd June 2015 to comply with this new legislation, or face a fine of up to three times the deposit amount.

Below are links to the relevant legislation on the government website.

Deregulation Act 2015

 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/20/introduction/enacted

Housing (Tenancy Deposits) Prescribed Information Order 2007

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/797/introduction/made

Housing Act 2004

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/34/introduction