New ways of improving tenancy deposit practice are currently under consideration by the Scottish Government with a recent study into Scotland's private rented sector revealing that a significant minority of tenancy deposits appear to be withheld, whether legitimately or not.
However, Preet Sandhu, who runs Happy Lets together with her husband Bobby, has pointed out that the question of legitimacy is central to this issue.
"Although we are aware that being asked for a deposit seems to be becoming a cause for concern amongst some prospective tenants, in as much as it tends to be the first matter that they will query, we’ve yet to come across a landlord who has withheld a deposit without a legitimate reason for doing so - such as tenants having suddenly vacated a property without first notifying the landlord," she said.
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"Our company policy is to seek to minimise any prospects for disputes arising between tenants and landlords over deposits in the first place by undertaking thorough inventory checks by our own in-house professionals and supported by photographic evidence, at the start and end of each rental period. This system typically works smoothly and to the satisfaction of both tenants and landlords."
Mr Sandhu said like all professional letting agents, they welcome any government initiative that boosts tenant and landlord confidence in the integrity of their letting agent.
Indeed, the recently launched Landlord Registration Scheme aimed at protecting tenants and landlords from unscrupulous letting agents is already helping to weed out the relatively few cowboy operators and, in their view, it effectively precludes the need for a new tenancy deposit scheme since, by definition, all registered landlords should already have proven their professionalism and integrity.
The Scottish Government has said that options and costs for establishing an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme, including the possibility of establishing a Tenancy Deposit Scheme to deal with tenancy deposits, are to be finalised by this summer.
This will include: using existing or new dispute resolution schemes, either on a voluntary basis or by means of a legal requirement on landlords; expanding the role of the Private Rented Housing Panel, which currently adjudicates on complaints from tenants that landlords are failing to comply with the Repairing Standard and dispute resolution as part of a tenancy deposit protection scheme, similar to schemes operating in England and Wales.
(GK/JM)
