Deposit Protection Schemes And Section 21 Notices

As part of the Housing Act 2004 the Government established Tenancy Deposit Protection

schemes for all Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales where a deposit is taken. From April 6th 2007, all deposits paid under an AST have had to be protected within 14 calendar days of receipt by the landlord. Failure to do this, can have significant consequences for a Landlord when the Landlord wants to bring the AST to an end.

Many Landlords are accustomed to using a Section 21 Notice to end an AST. However, if the tenant has paid a deposit under the tenancy agreement which should have been paid into a tenancy deposit scheme and:

The deposit has not been paid into the scheme; or

The initial requirements of the scheme have not been complied with in

relation to the deposit

then the Landlord is prohibited from serving a valid Section 21 Notice to bring the Tenancy to an end(Section 215 (1) of the Housing Act 2004 states this). Also, the tenant deposit schemes all impose time scales for compliance with their initial requirements. These initial requirements relate to set information which must be given to the Tenant usually within 14-21 days from the start of the tenancy, depending on the scheme.

So, even if a Landlord who has not paid the deposit into a scheme at the start of the tenancy then later does so he would still fall foul of being able to provide the set information (the initial requirements) because 14- 21 days would have passed from the start of the tenancy. This, according to the drafting of the legislation, prevents the Landlord from ever serving a valid Section 21 Notice on the Tenant. So how does the Landlord end the Tenancy?

Strictly speaking the legislation prevents the Landlord from ending the AST by way of Section 21 Notice. However, in our experience the courts have adopted the approach of allowing the Landlord to retrospectively comply. This would mean serving a Section 21 Notice and then complying with the initial requirements of the scheme. Only after this has been done, should a Section 21 Notice be served. Any Landlord needs to carefully ensure that the requirements of the deposit scheme have been carefully complied with, the deposit registered appropriately after which the Section 21 Notice should be correctly completed and served.

We provide expert legal assistance for any Landlords who may encounter this problem or any other tenant or tenancy related problems.

Please remember the above is not legal advice. Always take legal advice before taking any action.

by: Paul Gelder

POST COMMENT

NYC Condos and the Benefits Make Supervits Vitamin and Mineral Super Store Your One-Stop Shop What is Shilajit - Shilajit Benefits and Use of Shilajit Black Greek Life- News and Views How To Choose And Care For Murano Pendants Are Fats And Carbohydrates Good For Us Illness And Essential Oil Cures Stupendous machines for translation and interpretation How And When To Use Consultants What Is The Difference Between A Psychologist And A Psychiatrist? Steel Building Prices - Assessing Your Available Space And Needs The Use Of Rheology, Rheometry And Rheometers Bison Meat Vs. Beef Burgers And Steaks