ALERT! Tenancy Deposit Warning!
In April 2007 when the tenancy deposit regulations first came in, we all thought that they did not apply to deposits taken before 6 April 2007 unless the landlord gave the tenant a new tenancy deposit after that date.
Hundreds (if not thousands) of landlords allowed tenancies to ‘run on’ as a periodic after the end of the fixed term, specifically so they would not have to protect the tenancy deposit.
Then came the Court of Appeal decision in the Superstrike case.
This case said that if the tenancy deposit was taken before the 6 April but the fixed term ended and the tenancy continued after that date as a periodic tenancy then the deposit needed to be protected.
So unless landlords had protected the deposit with a scheme and served the prescribed information within 30 days of the start of the periodic tenancy – they were in breach.
Superstrike has now been ‘sorted’ by the Deregulation Act 2015. However, that act confirmed the Supestrike decision. Landlords in that position though, have been given a 90-day window of time to protect the tenancy deposit and serve the prescribed information now.
That window of time will end on 23 June 2015
If you don’t protect the tenancy deposit by then you will be in breach, you will not get another opportunity to avoid the regulations,and if your tenant takes you to court, the Judge will have no sympathy with you.
If the fixed term ended before 6 April, then you are all right anyway and don’t need to protect – unless you want to serve a section 21 notice. In which case you do – and this must be done before the notice is served.
In which case you do – and this must be done before the notice is served.