First landlord charged under new tenancy deposit rules

Earlier this week, an Edinburgh landlord was the first one to be ordered to pay his tenants three times their deposit under tenancy deposit regulation brought in last year. The Scotsman's property supplement comments on the ruling today.

The new government regulations, designed to weed out so-called rogue landlords and ensure the fair return of deposits at the end of a tenancy, entitles a tenant to receive three times the amount of the deposit should they discover that the landlord did not place the money in one of the government-approved schemes.

Was this particular landlord a 'rogue'? We don't know. One thing this ruling has made clear is that all landlords need to be aware of the rules and regulations they have to adhere to. Whilst tenancy deposit schemes were introduced gradually, there was relatively little coverage in the mainstream media and the government did not run a large-scale information campaign. For those reasons, it's entirely possible that landlords - especially those who self-manage and are 'only' renting out a flat because they can't sell it - didn't know about the regulations.

Whilst not intentionally 'rogue', they may inadvertently find themselves on the wrong side of the law. This recent ruling spells good news for tenants as it makes it absolutely clear that the courts will find for them if landlords break the rules. For landlords, it shows that breaching existing regulation will not be taken lightly, which is definitely a step in the right direction: with very effective rules in place, it's up to the authorities to enforce them. The result will be increased fairness for tenants and those landlords who are happy to stick to the rules.