Ok, so my landlord just phoned me and told me word to the effect of:

Legislation has changed we need to put your deposit into a protection scheme and we need to sign a new tenancy agreement (our original agreement ended some 5 years ago and we just kept it rolling).

I have tried talking to CAB who forwarded me to a council department that only apparently take urgent calls that are approaching homelessness or dis-repair. Where neither are really relevant.

Now I don’t know what legislation has changed, and the little info CAB gave me was that I’d only need to do something with the deposit if we sign the new agreement…

So who do I go to for advice on this? My solicitor? Which I guess will have to look at the new agreement anyway.

It’s not really worth mentioning that my old original tenancy agreement was lost during a dispute with nPower, where they insisted on the original being sent to them. I did so via recorded delivery, and yet apparently they never received it, even though it was signed for.

The reason I want advice on this is because the legislation change I know nothing about. I’m not sure of his intentions and want a little understanding that isn’t biased etc. before I go back to my landlord.

tried google & CAB website?

I tried the cab website and it gave the same info that the woman I spoke to from CAB gave me.

Google sadly is giving me contradicting info, but… I have just this second found:

For those of you who have already signed a tenancy agreement for the forthcoming academic year or who are currently living in a privately rented property, where your landlord has yet to protect your deposits, they have 30 days from the 6th April 2012 to comply with the changes to the law. If they fail to do this you may be able to take court action against them after 6th May 2012.

Which if this is the case then all is well again.

http://www.primelocation.com/guides/renting/a-renters-guide-advice-for-tenants/

the law changed a few years ago in the tenants favour.
He is just making sure he is legally sound.

If he wanted you out, he would have served notice.

Im not worried about being kicked out etc as I know he’ll struggle to get someone else in this sh….home. But thats another issue.

It’s more about trying to work out where he is going with this, and why the sudden change?

I don’t tend to trust people who have something I depend on. Hopefully Im panicking over nothing and it’ll all be sorted quickly.

you are almost certainly “panicking over nothing”.

He is obliged to lodge your deposit in an approved scheme or he get’s in trouble.

He is just making sure he is legally sound.

And maybe this (from here):

If the landlord fails to comply with the legal provisions there are remedies available to the tenant. A landlord must provide information about which scheme they have joined, in a prescribed form within 14 days. If they do not do this then landlords will be unable to use a section 21 notice to end the tenancy. The tenant can apply to the court asking for the prescribed information. Failure to comply with this request within 14 days means the court must either;

Order the landlord to pay the deposit back to the tenant or order the landlord to pay the deposit to a scheme.

The court will also be able to order the landlord to pay to the tenant a fine of three times the deposit amount with 14 days.

Chill sunshine, the Landlords just doing his duty and rightly so.

Thank him for being so upto date and up front with it. You’re far better off with him being proactive and abiding with the Law than not.