This article has been written in response to a landlord’s query: “I live in England and rent a property in Scotland, can I use TDS?”
It is not uncommon for landlords to live far away from their properties, but it is important to understand how that affects tenancy deposits.
In fact, our sister company north of the border, SafeDeposits Scotland recently noticed a 430% increase in the number of English landlords registering tenancies in Scotland.
The trend seems to be continuing into 2018 with the data showing that for the first three months of the year, the rate of new registrations is up 226% on the same period in 2017.
But what is behind the spike?
Victoria Smith, SafeDeposits Scotland operations manager explained: “There could be a number of contributing factors. For example, variations in rates of Stamp Duty in England and Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland, may make investing more attractive in the north.
“It’s interesting to note that the most significant landlord prosecution for non-compliance was a landlord living in St Albans who failed to protect her Edinburgh tenants’ deposits. Seeing that the legislation has teeth may have spurred other English landlords to make sure they weren’t breaking the law. The landlords’ legal representative at the time (2016) explained she was as “an amateur landlady” but the Sheriff described her as being “dilatory” in attending to her obligations.”
In the UK, there are separate schemes covering Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England and Wales and it is important that tenants’ deposits are lodged in the country of the property they are renting.
Tenancy Deposit Scheme is backed by the UK Government to provide deposit protection in England and Wales. North of the border, our sister company, SafeDeposits Scotland is the market-leader. And across the Irish sea, Tenancy Deposit Scheme Northern Ireland (TDSNI) covers the country from its Belfast base.
By law, landlords and letting agents who take deposits from tenants must protect them in a Government-backed deposit protection scheme.
To register a deposit in Scotland, please visit www.SafeDepositsScotland.com and for Northern Ireland, please visit www.tdsnorthernireland.com
About TDS
Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) is a Government-approved scheme for the protection of tenancy deposits; TDS offers both Insured and Custodial protection and also provides fair adjudication for disputes that arise over the tenancy deposits that we protect.
We provide invaluable training in tenancy deposit protection and disputes for agents and landlords through the TDS Academy as well as joining with MOL to provide the Technical Award in Residential Tenancy Deposits.
TDS Insured Scheme: where a TDS member can hold the tenancy deposits as stakeholder during the term of the tenancy.
TDS Custodial Scheme: where TDS hold the deposit for the duration of the tenancy.
TDS Academy: TDS provides property professionals with invaluable training in tenancy deposit protection and tenancy deposit disputes.
TDS Northern Ireland: TDS is Northern Ireland’s leading and only not for profit tenancy deposit protection scheme.
TDS can only comment on the process for our scheme, other deposit protection schemes may have a different process/require different steps. Content is correct at the time of writing.
These views are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the view of TDS, its officers and employees.
ARLA|Propertymark: For agents who would like to stay up to date, you can contact Propertymark | ARLA at: join@propertymark.com. By being a member of Propertymark | ARLA you will be eligible for TDS Insured best headline rates.
RLA: If you are a landlord and would like to keep up to date with any changes that may affect you or your responsibilities, you can contact the RLA at: info@rla.org.uk and quote reference: dg715 to receive 25% off your first year’s membership.