Wednesday 13 June 2012


Who does the Tenancy Deposit Scheme protect and who can make a claim under the Tenants Deposit Schemes

The Scheme is there to protect theTenant, however this mean that where joint tenants provide a deposit those same joint tenants must all make a claim, if one of the joint tenants does not or cannot agree to make a claim then the other tenants may be at a disadvantage.

Further to the Housing Act 2004 Section 23.10 the other people who are protected under the scheme are relevant parties who have paid the deposit on behalf of the tenant.  In many instances this will be the tenant's parents, however in some instances letting agents take deposits from tenants by credit card and this is a loan.

Therefore it could be considered that the credit card company may be a relevant party  and as such the both the parents/party who paid the deposit on behalf of the tenant/or credit card company may be able to bring a claim if the deposited is unprotected or incorrectly served in the prescribed format (Housing Act 2004 Section 213 -5 & 6)

So Landlords need to be aware that it may be necessary for you to serve not just the Tenant but also any relevant party with details of the authorised scheme applying to the deposit within 30 days of receipt of the deposit monies in the prescribed form.

This published article may contain information of general interest about current legal issues, but does not give legal advice

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