If you are 100% sure your landlord has not protected your Tenancy Deposit read on….
Where a landlord receives a Tenancy Deposit in connection with a shorthold tenancy, the initial requirements of an authorised Deposit scheme must be complied with by the landlord within 30 days of receiving the Deposit. This is commonly referred to as ‘protecting the Deposit’. [Housing Act 2004, Section 213 (3)]
If a landlord has not done this, they have broken the law and there is no defence to this.
Sanctions for not protecting a Tenancy Deposit
No Section 21 notice may be given in relation to the tenancy at a time when the Tenancy Deposit is not being held in accordance with an authorised scheme unless:
a) the Deposit has been returned to the tenant in full or with such deductions as are agreed between the landlord and tenant, or
(b) an application to the county court has been made that the requirements above have not been met and has been determined by the court, withdrawn or settled by agreement between the parties.[Housing Act 2004, Section 215]
Proceedings relating to tenancy deposits
The tenant or any Relevant Person may make an application to the county court if the landlord has not protected the Deposit in accordance with the law. Where an such an application is made during the tenancy the court must, as it thinks fit, either—
(a) order the person who appears to the court to be holding the Deposit to repay it to the applicant, or
(b) order that person to pay the Deposit into the designated account held by the scheme administrator under an authorised custodial scheme,
…within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order.
Where such an application is made after the tenancy has ended the court may order the person who appears to the court to be holding the Deposit to repay all or part of it to the applicant within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order.
Regardless of whether the tenancy has ended or not if such an application is made to the court court must order the landlord to pay to the applicant a sum of money not less than the amount of the Deposit and not more than three times the amount of the Deposit within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order. [Housing Act 2004, Section 214]
Further Reading
My landlord has not given me any information about my Deposit, should they? (Jungle Property Knowledgebase article)
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