On 26 March 2015 the Deregulation Act 2015 received Royal Assent and brings important legislative changes in deposit protection and Section 21 notices. The changes made attempt to clarify the issues created by the court cases of Superstrike vs Rodrigues and Charalambous vs Ng.
Tenancy Deposit Protection and Section 21 Notice – What the changes mean- Summary
If you have taken a deposit on any Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) before April 2007 and it is not protected then the deposit must be protected and Prescribed Information (PI) served, otherwise you will not be able to issue a Section 21 notice at any point in the future. However, it’s important to note that there are no penalties for any landlords who don’t protect deposits in these circumstances.
If you have taken a deposit on a tenancy since 6 April 2007 and protected and served the Prescribed Information (PI), and the tenancy has since either rolled into a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (SPT) or been renewed, then as long as the deposit is still protected in the same scheme and the tenancy details have not changed you will be deemed to have complied.
If you have taken a deposit on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) before April 2007 and the Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) subsequently rolled into a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (SPT) or was renewed after April 2007, then the deposit must be protected and Prescribed Information (PI) served by 23rd June 2015. You will not be able to serve a Section 21 notice and will be liable for penalties for non-compliance until you’ve protected the deposit.
What to do now?
There will no doubt be a large number of deposits that now require protecting and landlords/agents have been given three months to do so. Remember, if you have deposits that now need protecting you have until 23rd June 2015.
