If not, here are six reasons why you may be putting yourself at risk.

If your agreement does not comply with the latest tenancy deposit legislation, you can be fined up to three times the deposit and lose the right to eviction.
If your agreement does not include crucial conditions for your tenants to adhere to, you cannot later find them in breach of these conditions.
Your agreement must include a postal address in England or Wales, otherwise you may not have a legal right to collect rent.
If your tenancy agreement has not been updated since before 1996, it may be an ‘assured tenancy’. You might not be able to increase the rent and it could be an invalid tenancy.
If your tenancy agreement has not been tested in court, you’ll never know it works until it’s too late.
If your tenancy agreement is not easy to read and understand, it may go against you in court or in a deposit dispute.
Both new and experienced landlords can get caught out by their tenancy agreements. With a growing sector and continual tightening of legislation, thousands of landlords each year get into bitter disputes with tenants.

You can be sure that our ASTs are:

- Tried and tested throughout courts in England & Wales
- Easy to read and understand
- Drawn up by an industry leading solicitor
- Constantly monitored and updated

Download the RLA AST today at www.rla.org.uk/bestfriend

DepositGuard (run by the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS)) are advising all members to continue to protect their deposits late if they failed to do so within the new 30 day deadline. TDS will continue to adjudicate cases within their Alternative Deposit Resolution (ADR) service where the deposit has not been registered correctly within the 30 days, provided they follow the scheme rules by the time of the adjudication.

Unfortunately, we cannot control the use of the small claims court and cases taken here will be subject to the penalties of one to three times the deposit. As is the same for cases which go through the ADR and tenants later go through the small claims court to claim against incorrect protection of the deposit. This can be up to 6 years after the end of the tenancy.

Remember to correctly protect a deposit you must use one of the government approved schemes and give the tenant a copy of; the prescribed information, deposit protection certificate and scheme rules.

Don’t miss out the RLA’s low-cost deposit protection service DepositGuard allowing you to protect deposits from as little as £15 and keep hold of the deposit. This is exclusive to members so register today for free and start protecting your deposits straight away.

For further information visit www.rla.org.uk/depositguard/

FAQs

So, what happens if I have missed the 30 day deadline?

If an existing tenant applies to the court they will order you to repay the deposit or protect it, and pay the tenant between one and three times the deposit.
If the tenancy has ended, the Court may order you to repay the deposit. This suggests that deductions from the deposit may still be claimed. It also seems likely that the Court won’t make an order if the deposit has already been repaid to the tenant. However the penalty of between one and three times the deposit still applies.

My deposit is from before April 2007, do I need to protect my deposit?

No – provided you have not made any changes to the tenancy e.g. increase in rent, new terms etc. If you have any doubt you should protect the deposit.

I protected by deposit before May 5th but I forgot about the prescribed information, can the tenant still claim?

Yes – you cannot serve a Section 21 Notice until the Prescribed Information has been served (this can be later than 30 days) but the tenant can still claim for the incorrect protection of the deposit and be awarded the penalty.

The above are only guidelines and interpretations of legislation; until test cases have gone through the Court we cannot provide definitive advice. Each case within the small claims court will be dealt with on an individual basis.

Jack Dromey, shadow housing minister, and Tessa Jowell, shadow London minister, acted after it emerged that 12 of the 32 councils in London are considering doing exactly that.

A poll by the magazine Inside Housing found that seven of the 32 ruled out the move, with the remainder undecided or unable to respond.

The row was ignited by Newham Council, which is trying to house 500 families outside London.

Dromey has also written to housing minister Grant Shapps accusing him of being out of touch with the housing crisis. He wrote: “Soaring rents and collapsing affordable house building are making families homeless and forcing them to move hundreds of miles from home, but we don’t know the full picture.”

Meanwhile, the Chartered Institute of Housing has said moves by London councils to house people outside the capital were inevitable after caps to Local Housing Allowance, the benefit paid to people in private rented accommodation.

CIH chief executive Grainia Long said on the Today programme that “800,000 homes will be unavailable to people because of the previous changes made by the Government”. The CIH estimates that between 35,000 and 40,000 households in London alone are affected by the benefit caps.

CIH president Robin Lawler said: “I think we always knew that was going to happen, with the twin pressures of welfare reform and increasing private rents and the pressure of the Olympics in some parts of London. It will be interesting to see how that spins out.”

As from September 1, squatting will become a criminal offence, meaning that perpetrators will face up to six months in jail and a maximum £5,000 fine if they move into a home owner’s property.

However, owners of empty property should still take certain steps, including always informing their insurers when the property becomes vacant.

Owners where the property is likely to remain unoccupied for longer than a few weeks should also be advised to shut down power and gas supplies, drain water systems, and install a letter box seal, partly to prevent the possibility of arson and partly to prevent a build-up of mail.

MPs on the cross-party committee have called for the Government to consider enabling Self Invested Pension Plans to invest in new property and to simplify the tax and regulatory structures that apply to private landlords.

Alan Ward, RLA chairman, said: “The crisis in the private rented sector shows no signs of abating. Faced with a chronic shortage of accommodation, many tenants are faced with too high rents and are left to simply accept whatever housing they can find.

“This report echoes the arguments we put to the Committee and are putting to Government to reform the regulatory and taxation system which is stifling new investment in the sector.

“The proposals we have suggested would help unlock renovation in run-down properties, bringing them back into supply, and lead to new homes being provided for let.

“We strongly welcome the support given in principle to this by the report and urge Ministers to act on its recommendations.”

The committee also recommends that ‘build to let’ initiatives should be supported, but acknowledges the role played by small landlords.

The report says: “While it is right to consider the potential for large institutions to invest in the private rented sector, it is also important to remember that the sector is, and will continue to be, dominated by small companies and individual landlords.”

It continues: “There are a number of issues facing those in the sector: the financial crisis had a significant effect on the availability of buy-to-let mortgages; many landlords no longer have the benefit of capital gains; and there is some concern about the levels of return.

“We have heard that the burden of regulation and taxation has deterred landlords from expanding their businesses.

“While constraints on mortgage finance will continue to affect investment in the sector, the Government could provide some support by taking steps to address this burden.”