The study, conducted by PropertyLetByUs.com – a leading online letting agent, also reveals that just 4% of tenants say that their landlord or letting agent placed their deposit in a protection scheme within 30 days of receiving it. Furthermore, only 8% of tenants have been given a receipt for their deposit and one in six tenants say they do not know who to speak to regarding concerns they may have about their deposits. (*Source: PropertyLetByUs research amongst 500 landlords, October 2015).
It is a legal requirement for landlords and letting agents to put their tenants’ deposit in the scheme within 30 days of receiving it. According to PropertyLetByUs.com, many landlords and agents may be abiding by the law, but they could do more to reassure tenants that their deposit is protected.
Jane Morris, Managing Director of PropertyLetByUs.com comments: “Many tenants don’t realise that they can log into the deposit scheme websites to see if their deposit has been placed with them. Landlords could also provide tenants with a copy of the confirmation produced by the tenant deposit schemes.
There will be rogue landlords out there that are completely ignoring their legal responsibilities and the punishment is very costly. Landlords face fines for not registering deposits with a scheme, such as the Deposit Protection Service, MyDeposits or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. Fines are unlimited and are worked out at three times the initial deposit.”
