Tenancy Deposit Protection - Are you aware of your obligations?
It still seems that there is still a little confusion regarding the implementation of the tenancy deposit scheme for landlords.
The above information must be provided to the tenant within 14 days. Landlords and letting agents wanting more information on the Tenancy Deposit scheme have two valuable sources of information. This is the official government organized site and they have a variety of information available and provides details of the three contracts they have awarded to run schemes, two of them are insurance backed and one is custodial. There is a possibility that more schemes will be implemented in the future.
As well as the above, sterling work is being done by the Association of Residential Letting Agents - they are seeking to educate their members by providing supporting literature and to encourage steps to avert or minimize any cause for dispute in the first place. This prevention rather than cure seems to be the best idea and whilst all three of the government backed schemes must have a dispute resolution service, it is in everyones interest if this is seen as a last resort. Whilst it seems most industry professionals are aware of the new requirements, it is going to take a little time for this to filter down to landlords and tenants and ARLA are providing information that can be used by both landlords and tenants to assist in this matter.
