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Landlords are becoming the victims of the recession and need to be protected from problem tenants, says Landlord Assist, the tenant eviction and rent recovery.

This follows the statistic released by mydeposits.co.uk, which found that when deposit disputes go to adjudication, 91% are settled in the tenant's favour. Graham Kinnear of Landlord Assist warns that whilst landlords should not withhold deposits without good reason, they should receive more protection from problem tenants.

He says some landlords who find tenants have damaged their property at the end of a tenancy are now having to dig into their own pockets because they do not have enough evidence to justify withholding all or some of the deposit.

Kinnear says: “Every day we are dealing with landlords who have problem tenants and their issues include the non payment of rent, subletting, running of a business from the property, use of the property for a drugs factory, damage to property, anti social behaviour to name but a few. It is almost impossible to see how only 9 per cent of landlords suffer problems which result in them being entitled to the deposit.”

Stephen Parry, also of Landlord Assist is of the opinion that the structure of deposit schemes means that many landlords have been penalised on a procedural basis.

He says: “In some instances, the scheme is prejudiced against the landlord. It appears that the onus is on the landlord to prove the case and their ability to do so is often hampered by the steps taken at the outset of the tenancy. An inadequate inventory or schedule of condition can render the landlords claim invalid as can poor rent accounting.”

SOURCE: Landlord Assist, 07/04/09

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