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Tessa's Ten Top Tips for Tenants on tenancy deposits
1. Expect to pay a deposit when you rent a property - it is normally in the region of one to two months rent.
2. All deposits for assured shorthold tenancies taken after 6 April 2007, must be protected under one of the government authorised tenancy deposit schemes. This will also apply where a new tenancy agreement is given after that date when a deposit has been provided earlier.
3. Where the deposit scheme applies, your landlord must give you written notification of the scheme being used within 14 days of taking the deposit. If you want to check up, you can obtain confirmation from the schemes administrators.
4. If your landlord or agent has taken a deposit which needs to be protected, but has not done so you can go to court and obtain a court order that he refund the deposit to you, or protect it via the custodial scheme and pay a fine to you of three times the value of the deposit within 14 days.
5. When you first go into the property, check the contents and condition of the property carefully against the inventory (if there is one). If anything is damaged or in poor condition, make sure you notify this to the landlord immediately in writing, and keep a copy of the letter. This will help you greatly if there is a dispute later about deductions from the deposit, as it will go to prove that the damage was not done by you.
6. Let the landlord know if any of the items on the inventory need replacing due to wear and tear while you are in the property. You will be responsible for the cost of the repair or replacement of items damaged by you. However you should always speak to your landlord about it, in particular before carrying out any repair work
7. If your landlord will not have a 'handover' meeting before you go, make sure you leave the property in good condition and, if you do not trust your landlord, arrange for someone independent to view it so he or she can give evidence if necessary of this. It is also a good idea to take photographs or even a video of the property.
8. If your landlord wishes to make deductions which you do not agree with, contact the scheme administrators for your tenancy deposit scheme and ask for the matter to be referred to arbitration. Do not delay as there may be a time limit for doing this. Make sure that you comply with any requirements set by the rules of the scheme. However if you win the arbitration you are guaranteed the return of your deposit money under the scheme.
9. If your deposit is not protected under one of the schemes and your landlord has not returned your damage deposit to you within a reasonable period of time, or given you a breakdown of deductions with copy invoices, write to him requesting the return of your deposit (or the requested information) within 14 days, and say that if he does not you will be bringing proceedings in the Small Claims Court.
10. If your landlord fails to respond, consider taking legal action. You will find helpful information and leaflets on bringing proceedings in the Small Claims Court, and all the court forms, on the Court Service web-site. You can also consider purchasing the Landlord-Law do-it-yourself kit 2. See the links to your top right for more information about the kit.
If you found this information useful, think how helpful it will be for you to have access to all the information, guidance and forms on my Landlord Law membership site! To find out what is available and how it can help you click here!