Is it all change for prescribed information requirements under the Housing Act 2004?

We reviewed the recent case of Siddeeq v Alaian, and consider what changes may be afoot in light of the Renters Rights Bill.

Landlords will already be familiar with the requirement for Prescribed Information to be provided to their tenants at the commencement of an assured shorthold tenancy where a deposit has been taken. The recent case of Siddeeq v Alaian has shed some further light on the court’s approach to compliance with the legislation and the provision of prescribed information by landlords to their tenants.

In Siddeeq, an AST was signed one day before the tenant paid a deposit to the landlord. The signed tenancy agreement included some of the prescribed information that a landlord is legally obliged to provide to their tenant. Around one week after the tenancy was signed, the deposit was then placed into a protected tenancy deposit protection scheme and a copy of the deposit protection certificate was provided to the tenant. The certificate was not signed by either party.

One year later, the landlord served a section 21 notice and commenced accelerated possession proceedings against the tenant. The tenant filed a defence and at first instance, the district judge held that the prescribed information could be provided prior to the deposit having been received from the tenant and protected by a scheme.

The tenant appealed the decision and the appeal was granted on the basis that the requirement to provide the prescribed information applied after the deposit had been received by the landlord. The Appeal Judge noting, “If information is given before the deposit is paid then it is hard to see how the landlord or tenant could in good faith certify the amount of the deposit paid”.

The appeal judge further clarified that the prescribed information must be signed by the landlord to certify that the information is accurate to the best of their knowledge and belief and the tenant should also be provided with the opportunity to sign.

There are two general sanctions for non-compliance with the requirement to provide prescribed information. Firstly, a landlord may be prevented from serving a valid section 21 notice (a precondition to commencing accelerated possession proceedings) and secondly, the landlord may be required to pay a penalty to the tenant for breaching the statutory requirements.

Impact of the Renters Rights Bill

The Renters Rights Bill has now had its second reading in the House of Commons and as we have discussed in our article ‘Renter’s rights‘ the bill has reignited a promise to ban Section 21 no-fault evictions.

As the bill currently stands, Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004, which sets out the requirements relating to tenancy deposits, will remain largely unchanged. The consequences of non-compliance have, however, been revised and beefed up significantly. Landlord compliance will be carefully scrutinised by the court in standard possession proceedings and so it is vital that landlords ensure that tenancy deposit requirements, including the provision of the prescribed information, are in order before any steps are taken to obtain possession.

We will be watching with great interest the outcome of the in-depth scrutiny of the bill that will be carried out by the Public Bill Committee next week.

How we can help

If you have any queries relating to obtaining possession of your property, our property dispute resolution team is happy to help.