SafeDeposits Scotland Blog

Don't Leaf it to Chance - Autumn Adjudication Case Study

Posted on Thursday 4th of October 2018

You'd be forgiven for thinking that we've gone straight from summer to winter, but Scottish Autumn climate brings its own unique challenges for tenants, landlords and letting agents when it comes to tenancy deposits.

Recently, our adjudication team looked into a case that highlighted these potential issues and raised key points that everyone in the private rented sector (PRS) should be aware of. In this situation, the tenant moved into the property in the...Read More

Client Money Protection - A Brief Guide

Posted on Thursday 20th of September 2018

Letting agents will be aware that - as part of their Code of Practice - it is compulsory to have client money protection (CMP) in place. With the Code having been in force since January this year, it's important that agents have CMP to ensure that they are regulated. CMP is not a service we offer, however as part of our commitment to promoting best practice we've put together a few points on this important requirement. What is it? In a nutshell, CMP is a special type of insurance that...Read More

The Great Scottish Oven Clean

Posted on Tuesday 28th of August 2018

It's probably one of the least popular tasks in maintaining any household but it has to be done, and if you're a keen baker you know how important a clean oven is. Whether you're embarking on a signature, a technical or a showstopper bake, you're not going to get that beautiful baking aroma from an oven caked (no pun intended) in grease. You're maybe wondering why we - a tenancy deposit scheme - are concerned with how your Victoria Sponge works out, but the...Read More

How do I complete the prescribed information form?

Posted on Friday 24th of August 2018

How do I complete the prescribed information form? The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 require landlords who take a deposit from their tenant to: Transfer the deposit to a government approved tenancy deposit scheme; and Provide the tenant(s) with particular key information. The deposit should be protected and the key information provided within 30 working days of the tenancy start date. To help make providing the key information easier, we have a template,...Read More

What happens if there's no response to a repayment request?

Posted on Thursday 2nd of August 2018

The importance of contact details When a landlord registers a deposit, we ask for contact details for the tenant, specifically a phone number (preferably a mobile number) and email address. We can't stress enough how important contact details are: we need to be able to contact the tenant after they move out of the property to ask them to complete the repayment steps. If we can't contact the tenant, the repayment will be much slower for the landlord and tenant. As we need to contact the...Read More

How do I use the evidence portal?

Posted on Friday 27th of July 2018

If a landlord and tenant can't agree on how a deposit should be repaid, we offer an independent adjudication service to help. This means we'll ask the landlord and lead tenant for further information about the tenancy. An independent adjudicator will decide what repayment is fair based on that information. The landlord (or letting agent, if one is acting on the landlord's behalf) and lead tenant can provide information through our online evidence portal. We've shared a step-by-step guide...Read More