Reminder of deadline for protection of pre-6 April 2007 tenancy deposits

Jun 2, 2015 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)

What must landlords of statutory periodic tenancies that arose after 6 April 2007 do to comply with the tenancy deposit legislation?

The Deregulation Act 2015 (DA 2015) deals with an issue of concern that arose in Superstrike Ltd v Rodrigues [2013] All ER (D) 135 (Jun). One of the outcomes of the case was that landlords who had taken tenancies prior to the tenancy deposit legislation coming into force in April 2007 – where the tenancies had subsequently become statutory periodic tenancies - were required to protect deposits and serve prescribed information on the tenancies becoming statutory periodic. DA 2015 provides a window of time for such landlord to comply if they have not already done so.

See: Tenancy deposit schemes and Deregulation Act 2015—housing (requires a LexisPSL account or free trial).
What must landlords do next?
Any landlord who took a deposit before 6 April 2007 must protect it and serve the required information on a tenant within 90 days from the Royal Assent of DA 2015 on 26 March 2015 (or, if earlier, before the first day after the commencement date on which a court determines an application or decides an appeal under the Housing Act 2004, s 214 or the Housing Act 1988, s 21).

Assuming there are no court determinations, this would appear to make the deadline 24 June 2015, but landlords would be well-advised to take action now to avoid any hair-splitting arguments as to the exact time for compliance.

If that is done then it will be as if the deposit had always been protected and the prescribed information served.

Joanna Bhatia, solicitor in the Lexis®PSL Property team.

Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built