Get to know new deposit rules, landlords warned

Landlords have been urged to ensure they’re up to speed with new rules set to come into force in April aimed at protecting tenants’ deposits.

From 1 April all landlords will be obliged to pass deposits to an approved third-party scheme within 30 days or risk having to pay the tenant up to three times the deposit in the event of a dispute. Failure to comply could lead to landlord licences being revoked.

The Scottish Government’s tenant deposit scheme legislation was passed in March last year following research that found up to 11,000 private tenants a year have their money wrongly withheld by landlords.