Landlords rejoice as Superstrike problems are no more!!

Landlords rejoice as Superstrike problems are no more!!

17:04 PM, 29th March 2015, About 9 years ago 25

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Landlords up and down the country will (or should) be celebrating the demise of the ridiculous rules we have all had to put up with following the Court of Appeal decision in the Superstrike case. Landlords rejoice as Superstrike problems are no more

This is due to the amendments in the Deregulation Act 2015 which received the Royal Assent on 26 March, and which (so far as the tenancy deposit rules are concerned) came into force immediately. I have spent the morning amending all the relevant sections on Landlord Law, so this should now be up to date.

The rules are now as follows:

Deposits taken before April 2007 where the tenancy became periodic after that date

All deposits must now be protected and the prescribed information must be served. You have been given a period of 90 days to deal with this – i.e. until 23 June 2015.

If you protect and serve the PI within this time, the deposit will be treated as if it had always been protected. If you don’t, you will be in breach – with no excuses!

Deposits taken after April 2007 that have been protected and the prescribed information served during the original fixed term

These will be treated as if the prescribed information had been served on every renewal or whenever a statutory periodic tenancy arose – even if the prescribed information was served late initially. Provided of course that the deposit continues to be protected with the same deposit scheme.

So you no longer need to keep re-serving the prescribed information. Once will do.

Deposits taken before April 2007 which became periodic before that date

Here you are not in breach of the law and you don’t have to protect the deposit now.

However the deposit must be protected or the money returned to the tenant (or the person who paid it) before any s21 notice can be served. Landlords will not be liable for any financial penalty for non protection.

Otherwise – the new rules will not help you if you have failed to protect a deposit taken after April 2007. They were passed just to deal with the problems associated with the Superstrike decision.

Court proceedings

If you are involved in court proceedings for possession, you can take advantage of the new rules, unless you case was concluded some time ago and you are out of time to appeal.

Letting agents

The prescribed information rules have also been amended to allow for agents’ details to be given instead of landlords’ details where the agent is dealing with the deposit.

If you want to sign up to get my mailings you can do so at www.landlordlawinfo.co.uk

All the best

Tessa Shepperson – Landlord Law


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

12:11 PM, 30th March 2015, About 9 years ago

and my reply ....

Gilly

12:48 PM, 30th March 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "30/03/2015 - 11:30":

Thanks Mark. I ought to tweet more!

Hopefully the PI is covered - I was actually asking about re-issuing the certificate (which is separate) and which features the staggering difference of including the words "statutory periodic tenancy" but which is otherwise identical. Ho hum just another half an hour that we have to waste....

Steve Masters

15:41 PM, 30th March 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Gilly " at "30/03/2015 - 12:48":

I was just thinking the same thing! Does Prescribed Information (PI) include the Deposit Protection Certificate (DPC)?

In other words, when an AST rolls into a SPT does the DPC still need to be served even if the PI doesn't?

Fed Up Landlord

17:42 PM, 30th March 2015, About 9 years ago

The DPC contains informatiòn specific to the tenancy which forms part of the Prescribed Information. So. Once you have served it thats it. No need to reserve again.

19:31 PM, 30th March 2015, About 9 years ago

No doubt there will be a flood of new questions arising (although it would seem that things are slightly more streamlined now). Mine is this: The need to re-protect/re-issue PI at renewal or periodic has now been eliminated but if prescribed information was never provided in the original term, then presumably the pre-act situation remains in place, ie. a valid 21 can't be issued until PI issued and a claim for 1-3 times the deposit can be made?
And also if the deposit is protected well after the 30 day limit and no PI issued, again the same penalties apply with the added aspect that the deposit must be returned before being able to serve 21?
This is re an AST in England, 2014-5. Many thanks

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

20:29 PM, 30th March 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "lisa redford" at "30/03/2015 - 19:31":

Hi Lisa

What you have explained is my understanding of the current position too.
.

ashley nissim

9:27 AM, 31st March 2015, About 9 years ago

I have been trying to find some clarity on this too. Whilst it seems that there are benefits for landlords in the deposit protection process & in serving Section 21 notices, there is a flip side. The new regulation will also creates a new defence for tenants that could invalidate a Section 21 notice.

If a tenant complains about a problem in the property prior to receiving the notice, and the local authority issue a notice for repairs, the Section 21 will be invalid. On the face of it this would be ok if the tenant and local authority are reasonable. In my experience with Section 21's, however, the local authority do everything in their power to prolong an eviction so that they don't have to re-house the tenant. I have even had a situation in which the local authority filled in the defence for the tenant. Let's hope that this doesn't put the lunatics in charge of the asylum.

Alex Jordon

10:00 AM, 31st March 2015, About 9 years ago

Hey Tessa,
Thanks a lot for sharing this landlord rejoice problems.

Paul Franklin

11:28 AM, 31st March 2015, About 9 years ago

Painsmith seem to suggest that the importanct changes to s21s are effective immediately too and it's only the retaliatory eviction provisions that are not yet in force:

http://blog.painsmith.co.uk/2015/03/31/deregulation-act-2015/#respond

So confusing! What's in force and what isn't? It should be clear yet it's anything but! Will the s21 notice I serve tomorrow be valid, who knows!

Anon 44

15:17 PM, 1st April 2015, About 9 years ago

This is the news we've all been waiting for! So to clarify the Periodic PIs I was about to issue for periodic dates 27th March and 30th March, are these now definitely not necessary? Both tenancies and all our other tenancies have had the deposits placed in The DPS and initial PI issued within the original fixed term, within the deadlines.

Does that now mean all my deposit protection has been complied with?

After the fallout of Superstrike and the endless PIs, it's hard to let go of reisussing at Periodic so I just want to be clear.

I have 4 tenancies left that started way before April 2007 and went periodic way before April 2007. In order to safely be able to use a S21 would you now place them in the DPS and issue PI before 23rd June? Would you need a new AST?

Breathing a huge sigh of relief.... that's one to the Landlords and nill to the ambulance chasers for now.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

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