31/10/2011 
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Quote3:02 pm
20/05/2011
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Hi Sevastyan,
No No No!!! if you and your landlord have created a tenancy agreement by signing an agreement or just giving you the keys and you have given him a deposit he must register your deposit in a recognised Government scheme, it does not matter that you are friends or whether he is your brother mother or Uncle Tom Cobbly, the law is the law and you cannot agree to a contract outside of it just because it does not suit you. Not to register your deposit will leave your friend/landlord very exposed if you fall out at some point. He should know better and you must tell him to register it today.
3:24 pm
09/04/2012
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i cant see why you wouldnt want to register it. DPS is free, you bothe know each other so if you cant see any disputes later then it should come back easily to you, and as mentioned, what happens if you fall out!!!!! Do it and make sure its done properly! Does your friend realise that he has already gone past the deadline??!!
Consistently Setting New Standards!
http://www.evolutionlettings.com supporting landlordreferencing.co.uk
4:03 pm
As has already been said the law is the law and the deposit MUST be protected for both your sakes. Your friend has already broken the golden rule Never let to friends or family!
You might agree for your landlord to hold the deposit in her own account in which case she needs to protect it with MyDeposits for £30 in that case the money will be there to return to you on the day that the tenancy ends with no need to involve anyone else unless you cannot agree on any stoppages in which case you will have access to free arbitration through the scheme
4:58 pm
20/05/2011
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Hi Mary,
Just how is all this arbitration going to be paid for apparently the TDS had 13,000 disputes so who the hell is going to arbitrate all this.
Will it end up with big buckets with landlords written on one and tenants written on the other and someone throwing the judgements in " 1 for the LL and 2 for the tenant" :-0
5:01 pm
Paul in reality very few disputes get as far as arbitration. If the landlord cannot produce evidence to support his claim against the tenants money that money is returned to the tenant.
Artbiters have to meet strict rules.
The Insured schemes are paid for from the premiums and the custodial scheme from interest on funds held
6:31 pm
20/05/2011
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Ok Arbitaration is a word which describes the use of a person to settle a dispute and I did not mean it that all cases had to go into a court room so I will ask it in a different way.
Just how is all these disputes going to be arbitrated and who is going to pay for it apparently the TDS had 13,000 disputes so who the hell is going to administer and decide who is right or wrong.
I do not even want to think what would happen if laymen are employed to be judge and juror in these disputes.
10:45 pm
Paul all of the schemes use trained people to arbitrate and they are of course paid a fee for each case. I wonder how many of those "disputes" actually went to arbitration? Without evidence there is no case and the tenant gets the deposit back by default
9:14 am
Paul Routledge said:
Ok Arbitaration is a word which describes the use of a person to settle a dispute and I did not mean it that all cases had to go into a court room so I will ask it in a different way.
Just how is all these disputes going to be arbitrated and who is going to pay for it apparently the TDS had 13,000 disputes so who the hell is going to administer and decide who is right or wrong.
I do not even want to think what would happen if laymen are employed to be judge and juror in these disputes.
With our 99% of our Tenants , their deposits are returned without a dispute ( we might agree a reduction of the deposit but once agreement is achieved then the deposit is returned as there is no dispute ). The interest earned on all these smooth straightforward Tenancies ( and indeed all DPS deposits) pays for the FREE Alternative Dispute Resolution provision that you get with the DPS to sort out the difficult Tenancies …..and there is nothing for the Landlord or Tenant to pay if they end up in dispute.
This seems to be really popular as a concept .We haven't had a Tenant yet who is unhappy at the idea that the DPS put the interest on their money into a big pot as they recognise that they could be one of the minority of people who need the ADR services at the end of the term.
The DPS appoint and pay trained ADR mediators so its not as if laymen are employed as judge and jury as you are concerned about. As a Government approved scheme , there are strict protocols to adhere to in terms of standards and delivery of service. Works for us ! 
6:55 am
20/05/2011
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Hi Peter,
Do you think that the disputes are settled because the tenant needs a quick resolution to the problem so they can get their money back faster as they cannot afford for it to be sitting in dispute for months on end.
I have had a tenant who has recently left and threatened to destroy me and my company (as they do) if I didn't give him the whole deposit amount back in full on that very day. After explaining to him that the inventory clearly stated that the property was left dirty and the bed slats were broken and that In order to be fair I would reduce the cost of the charges to just £100 he still demanded his money back in full that day
Nothing was going to dissuade him from getting the lot back or "I was getting it". So I said, Ok, raise a dispute with the scheme and we will put your deposit into and we will let them arbitrate with the evidence we both have. this should only take a month or two to resolve.
That was the turning point as he said that he needed the money to get a new flat and could not wait that long so he would need to accept to get the balance back immediately.
I just wonder how many landlord are finding this is a way to get the tenants to agree to the charges like I inadvertently got this guy to do without even realising it.
Works for me 2….i
2:25 pm
Hello,
Could someone give me some advice please? How long does it take for DPS to get a deposit back to a tennant. I have placed (advanced rent) and deposits into the scheme and although we have long stay tenants and no-one has left since the scheme started. Someone will move out eventually and I don't know how long this takes and how does the advance rent work?
Thanks Kev
5:14 pm
Once the paperwork has been submitted the deposit should be returned within 10 working days by law.
Deposit protection is about monies taken to protect the landlord against losses and damages I am not clear why the advance rent is involved?
6:15 pm
20/05/2011
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Be very careful with taking advanced rent rather than taking it as a deposit. Some judges are seeing this as a way of Landlords trying to get around the deposit registration, anything more than just the first months rent in advance can and probably will be seen as a deposit in the event of a dispute.
Quite frankly it only cost £15 now in some places to register it and it really is not worth the agro. The first thing my tenants say when there is a dispute is "Have you registered my deposit" they know it is the first line of attack and if you have not registered it they have you on a back foot from the start.
6:31 pm
The maximum deposit or advance rent that should be taken in 1/6th of the annual rent otherwise the tenant may have the legal right to sublet because he has paid a "premium"
Taking something to cover yourself for losses or damages and calling it something other than a deposit does not alter the fact that it must be protected. Two legal alternatives are a guarantor or a bond
8:03 pm
Hi Mary,
Does that mean I can take 2 months up front and the tenant pays from the end of the first month and it wont be seen as a deposit?. Or will they need to pay at the end of the second month?
12:06 pm
How far back does the term 'existing' tenant apply to? We have had the same tenant for 8 years, do we need to put her deposit into the scheme too?
2:08 pm
Kirsty, If your AST states that rent is due monthly in advance you cannot take rent again until the start of month 3 otherwise it will be deemed to be a deposit and must be protected.
Look at this case here http://nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/2009/02/its-not-a-deposit-honest/
From this case
"In the present case, any money over the first week’s rent was clearly being held as security against any potential future breach of rent liability, or other condition, by Mr Piggott, as it was not set off against the first five weeks rent liability. It was therefore, objectively, intended to be a security and was a deposit.
The deposit had not been put in a scheme as per s.213(1) and (6) HA 2004, and, by s.215(1) the s.21 Notice was not valid. 3 x deposit payment ordered and the return or protection of the deposit.
Arguably then, any money from the tenant held by the landlord over and above the immediate payments of rent due is construable as a deposit, where the landlord has not clearly indicated that it will not be used in relation to any breach of tenancy condition or tenant liability."
2:11 pm
Jean any deposit taken after April 2007 or deposits that were taken before that date but where a new AST has been signed MUST BE PROTECTED and the tenant must be given a copy of the Protection certificate and prescribed information for tenants that can be downloaded from the scheme web sites.
2:45 pm
Hi Mary,
Thank you very much – I love this site your constant help at hand is so reassuring.
3:36 pm
Please read this:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/m…..-hell.html
And while that was going on, Mydeposits allowed the letting agent on a property I was renting to deduct money for cleaning because he said there was 'dust on the surfaces'. This was after an inspection he did a week AFTER I had moved out of the property because he was unable to come (despite fair notice) on the day I moved out.
It's all a big scam and the government should keep its bloody nose out!
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