Landlord fails in appeal over £2k fine for not protecting tenancy deposit

A buy-to-let landlord who failed to pay a tenancy deposit into an approved scheme for four years has proved unsuccessful in her appeal.

Linda Searle appealed against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber in which she was ordered to pay £1,875 to the respondents, Marc Bleazard and Kimberly Whyte.

Bleazard and Whyte were the tenants of a property in Edinburgh owned by the landlord from July 2013 to mid-last year, with an initial duration of one year and thereafter continued by tacit relocation.

The pair paid a tenancy deposit of one month’s rent set at £625. However, this was not paid into an approved tenancy deposit scheme, as legally required by the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011, until September 2017.

The landlord appealed the decision, claiming that she had done nothing wrong.

But the First-tier Tribunal decided that the original award of £1,875 was justified, and therefore it was upheld.

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