If you are a residential landlord who intends to use the route for possession under S.21 of the Housing Act 1988 (while you still can), you need to ensure you have properly dealt with the deposit before serving a notice. Failure to do so can result in your claim for possession failing and having to pay your tenant compensation.
The key points to note are that you must:
- Protect the deposit within 30 days of the tenancy agreement.
- If you do not protect the deposit within this time any S.21 Notice will be invalid. You could get around this by returning the full deposit to your tenant and then serving a fresh S.21 Notice.
- However, this will not remove the risk of a claim by your tenant for up to 3 times the value of the deposit.
If you are a residential landlord and have any concerns over deposit protection or would like some advice on how to get possession of your property, contact the Property Litigation Team who will be able to advise you.
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