52% of Housing Rights clients say their deposits have not been properly protected
Despite numerous efforts to promote and publicise the need for landlords to protect any deposits paid since 1 April 2013, many of our clients still report that their deposits have not been protected.
TDS NI, the largest of the deposit schemes operating in Northern Ireland, reported last year that over 22,000 deposits had been registered with the scheme, but called for more action to be taken to protect tenants’ deposits. Speaking at our conference on the Private Rented Sector last year Ben Beadle, Managing Director of TDS NI, called for more action to be taken to protect deposits stating “the number of deposits protected is much lower than the number of tenancies out there”.
Housing Rights clients report low level of compliance with tenancy deposit scheme regulations
52.1% of the tenants who contacted Housing Rights for advice between 01/04/2015 and 31/12/2015 either know that their deposit had not been protected or have not been issued with the required prescribed information by their landlord or agent. Our statistics show that only 47.9% of tenants who contact us and paid a deposit after 1 April 2013 have received confirmation that their deposit has been protected. However, our figures must be taken in context. Tenants who contact Housing Rights are typically contacting us because of difficulties in the tenancy and their experiences are not necessarily indicative of the NI rental market as a whole.
Tenants from across Northern Ireland contact Housing Rights for advice and assistance. While the vast majority of tenants in Northern Ireland report high levels of satisfaction with their landlords, those who contact us are generally experiencing problems in their rented homes. They may be renting from people who are inexperienced or accidental landlords and may find themselves at risk due to a lack of professionalism and standards amongst a minority of landlords and agents operating locally. While our statistics only cover a small proportion of tenants renting in Northern Ireland, it is worth noting that only 55% of tenants surveyed in NIHE commissioned research carried out in 2014 stated that they had received a deposit protection certificate from their landlord.
Our statistics show a regional disparity in compliance between council areas, but it should be noted that the sample sizes in each council area are not comparable and may not be indicative of the general experience of tenants in that area. In one council area, only one third of the private tenants who contacted Housing Rights for advice were confident that their deposits had been protected, whereas the proportion rose to higher than half of clients in areas with high volumes of privately rented property, such as Belfast City, Derry and Strabane and Lisburn and Castlereagh council areas.
Encouraging tenants to check the status of their deposits
The majority of professional landlords and agents are now well used to protecting tenants’ deposits and issuing tenants with the required prescribed information. It is essential that tenants keep this information safe as they will need this information at the end of their tenancy if they end up disagreeing with their landlord over the return of the deposit. Tenants should consider carrying out a quick tenancy health check once they’ve settled into their new rented home to discern whether or not their tenancy has been protected and if their landlords have complied with all other legislative obligations.
Housing Rights concerns about deposit scheme
For many years Housing Rights advocated for the introduction of deposit protection and we believe that the scheme has been a very positive development for private tenants. However, we have highlighted a number of concerns about the scheme in a recent briefing paper and hope that the Department for Social Development will take the opportunity to address these defects in its ongoing review of the private rented sector. Our briefing paper raises the following concerns:
- we feel there is inadequate compliance with and enforcement of the regulations
- it has been difficult to secure prosecutions due to problems with how the legislation was drafted
- current provisions do not enable the judiciary to compel repayment of the deposit to the tenant
- the regulations are not retrospective and do not protect tenants who paid a deposit before 1 April 2013
- we believe there is a lack of certainty in the legislation as to the binding nature of an adjudicator’s decision.
Resources to help you with your response to the review
Organisations, stakeholders and individuals have until 5 February to submit responses to the Department’s Review of the Private Rented Sector. If you are submitting a response, you may find the following reports and papers useful:
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