The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 came into force on 7 March 2011. Every

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...

letting agent A letting agent is a facilitator through which an agreement is made between a landlord and tenant for the rental of a residential property. This is commonly used in countries using British English, including countries of the Commonwealth. In th ...

that receives a deposit in Scotland must register with their

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

and join a tenancy deposit scheme. There are three tenancy deposit schemes in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

: the Letting Protection Service Scotland, Safedeposits Scotland and My, deposits Scotland.

Reasons for introduction

Scots law gives tenants extra protection against losing their deposits. It means landlords and letting agents cannot keep deposits, instead they have to transfer them to a government approved third party. The regulation has come into force to prevent "unscrupulous" landlords withholding part or all of a deposit when the tenant leaves their accommodation. The Scottish Housing Minister, Keith Brown, estimated that up to 11,000 tenants each year have had their deposit wrongly retained by their landlord or letting agent. The tenancy deposit schemes approved by the government means that any deposit dispute between tenant and landlord can be referred to an independent dispute resolution service.

Regulations

Concerns that some private landlords unfairly withhold tenants' deposits led to provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, for Scottish Ministers to bring forward regulations for the approval of tenancy deposit schemes in Scotland. The Regulations set out the conditions that all schemes must meet before they can be approved by the Scottish Ministers. The three independent third party schemes approved by Scottish Ministers operating in Scotland are: * The Letting Protection Service Scotland * SafeDeposits Scotland * My, deposits Scotland

Deadlines

Table of Tenancy Deposit Deadlines for Scottish Landlords:

Enforcement

A tenant can take a landlord to court if they don't protect their deposit with a scheme or provide the required information within the specified timescales. If the court is satisfied that the landlord has not complied, a sheriff can order the landlord to pay up to three times the deposit.

References

External links