Your location: A rent deposit protection service for Scotland
By: Shelter Scotland Published: March 2005
This is one of a series of position papers produced by Shelter on the Housing (Scotland) Bill. This briefing focuses on proposals for a rent deposit protection service.
- A rent deposit protection service for Scotland (PDF 165.5 kb)
Summary
Over 173,000 households live in the private rented sector in Scotland. Despite this number, there is no statutory regulation of rental deposits and a significant proportion of private tenants have problems getting their money back at the end of the tenancy. Shelter is urging the Executive to introduce a Rent Deposit Protection Service in Scotland. All landlords would be obliged to lodge money from deposits with the service. The service would then repay the deposit within a few days of the end of the tenancy providing the landlord and tenant are in agreement. Any dispute over repayment of the deposit could be referred to a panel and resolved within a month.