Rent Deposit Protection Schemes - 1 Mar 2008

Landlords, and their agents, are now bound by this legislation brought out last year. Deposits for new tenancy agreements have to be banked in an approved scheme, as do deposits for tenancies that are changed.

Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) deposits have to be held and protected by law in a specific deposit protection scheme.

There are three government approved schemes:

Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS)  This is the scheme that Berry Morris use for client deposits. Their website is www.tds.gb.com

Tenancy Deposit Solutions Ltd (TDSL) www.mydeposits.co.uk

Deposit Protection Service (DPS) www.depositprotection.com

Here are some useful notes on this legislation, but please do not regard them as complete and accurate.

- This is mandatory legislation and applies to all AST's, you cannot opt out

- If a tenancy is new or replaced then the deposit must go into one of these schemes. 'Rollover' tenancy deposits do not have to be moved

- If the landlord lives abroad this has no effect, as the property is in the UK, and therefore is covered by legislation.

- There is no cost to the tenant for using one of these schemes

- Student lets are included

- The interest that builds up on the deposit is technically the tenant's , as it is their money!

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