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CAB slams lax landlords

Too many landlords are not protecting their tenants' deposits, warns the CAB…

Since last April, landlords in England and Wales offering new assured shorthold tenancy agreements must join one of three official schemes. These safeguard deposit money in the event of a dispute, but some landlords are failing to comply.  The government insists the schemes are working well, and have so far protected almost a million deposits worth £900m.

The full scale of the problem is not clear, but Shelter says it gets calls every week about deposits still not being protected.  And Citizens Advice says its bureaux around the country regularly report complaints about the same issue.

Liz Phelps, social policy adviser at Citizens Advice, commented: "It's clearly good news that a million deposits are protected, but it's now quite clear that we are seeing far too many tenants who knew nothing about it and whose deposits weren't protected.

"If a landlord does not sign up to a scheme, it is up to the tenant to take their landlord or agent to the county court, which has the powers to award a tenant three times their deposit�.