Who cares for safety of tenants’ money?

Posted under General by Michael

It is distressing to know that many tenants are loosing their deposit money and landlords are not complying with official schemes which provide safeguard to both in case of disputes. Citizens Advice and housing charity commissioner Shelter warns that landlords are not safeguarding their tenants’ deposits. According to Liz Phelps the tenants also do not know how to protect their deposit money. Effective April, 2007, landlords in England and Wales are supposed to join any one of the three official schemes while making tenancy agreements. Landlords are purposely avoiding these schemes since they get tied up for refund under the law. The government claims that schemes have protected a million deposits amounting to £900m, since their in April, 2007.

But the fact is many tenants are losing money due to unawareness about the schemes and the agent’s responsibilities. It is the responsibility of the Government to create awareness.
According to Shelter and Citizens Advice, they continue to receive complaints from tenants every week. There is still no protection to their deposit money.

The tenants can lodge their complaint against the landlord or agent with the country court if he refuses to sign up a scheme. The court is empowered to award a tenant three times the amount of deposit.
Marveen Smith, a property solicitor and legal adviser to The Tenancy Deposit Scheme feels that tenants must gather courage and use the courts to and get their deposits back.