Scottish buy-to-let landlords have been praised for responsibly letting their properties this week after SafeDeposits Scotland conducted research into the rates of landlords failing to protect tenants’ deposits.
Landlords in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire were found to have the most positive rates, with just 17 cases from the area being taken to the First-Tier Tribunal in regards to failing to protect tenant’s deposits.
SafeDeposits Scotland has studied decisions made by the Tribunal since the end of 2017. It found that £13,169 had been paid out to tenants in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, which averages out to around £770 per case.
The largest payout was to tenants renting in the village of Monymusk, where the landlord was ordered to pay out £1,725. The lowest award was £100 for a property near the University of Aberdeen.
Ian Potter, chair of SafeDeposits Scotland, commented: “While there were 17 instances of North East landlords being taken to the Tribunal by their tenants, to put that into context; SafeDeposits Scotland protects the deposits of almost 15,000 tenants in the area.
“It’s great to see the overwhelming majority of landlords taking their legal responsibilities seriously and looking after their tenants’ deposits.
“Deposit protection legislation is designed to protect all parties involved in the private rented sector and costs landlords nothing to comply with. The schemes also offer free and impartial adjudication services to ensure that any deductions from deposits are fair and can be scrutinised.
“We believe that the overwhelming majority of landlords operate within the rules, but the findings from our research into the first 18 months of the First-tier Tribunal demonstrates that there are still some out there who don’t.
“In most of the cases we’ve looked at, the landlord has not acted out of malice, but was either simply unaware of the legislation or forgot, however, that does not reassure tenants or save landlords from fines.”