Tenancy Deposit Schemes (TDS) were introduced into legislation protecting tenant deposits, which came into force in England and Wales in 2007, Scotland in 2012, and Northern Ireland in 2013.

It requires landlords to protect any deposit via an authorised tenancy deposit scheme. such as: 

•

All three schemes have dispute resolutions.

What do landlords get wrong?

The biggest issue is landlords don’t register the deposit within 30 days or send the prescribed information. If landlords take a deposit, they must use a scheme and follow its rules or risk falling foul of legislation.

What are the consequences?

If a landlord hasn’t done specific procedures correctly, it will affect their rights to repossess a property. And whereas things like energy-performance certificates can be rectified later, that’s not the case with deposits. So, if a landlord wants to go down the possession route and hasn’t used a deposit scheme, they must repay the tenant. This will alert the tenant to their error and potentially lead to the landlord being taken to court and fined up to three times the deposit amount.

If a landlord is unsure they’ve followed procedures correctly, what should they do?

Look at the deposit scheme they’ve used and ensure they’re up to speed with the requirements.

Landlords scupper their chances of getting a reasonable and fair sum awarded by providing too much information irrelevant to the dispute procedure.

They forget to submit key information, including an inventory and condition reports.

Landlords don’t submit more than one quote for works

Some landlords throw everything at the deposit in the hopes that this improves their chances of getting the maximum amount back from the deposit.

The landlord has no right to the Security deposit unless they are materially out of pocket. Also, there is an expectation that an immaculate property will be returned to them, as no one has lived in the property. There must be a degree of reasonableness towards charges, costs, and grace.

Wear and tear is any wear that naturally occurs when used. 

Excessive wear and tear occurs when the damage, through use, is worse than average.

Dilapidations are breaches of the agreement between a tenant and landlord for the maintenance and repairs of a rental property. A tenant\'s responsibilities may include redecoration, remedial works, and repairing damage caused by mistreatment, poor repairs, or a lack of maintenance.

Considering the age and expected number of years the item is expected to last is a main factor in being awarded compensation.

If you can show the adjudicator that this has been considered, you are more likely to be awarded the maximum reasonable sum.

The other key way to present your case well is to provide impactful and productive information, whereby the adjudicator doesn’t have to wade through pages of information to find it. They are more likely not to award funds, even if you have a strong case if you have not presented the evidence in a clear way the adjudicator can understand.