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Plenary, 18 Jun 2008

18 Jun 2008 · S3 · Plenary

Item of business

Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme

Maxwell, Stewart SNP West of Scotland Watch on SPTV

I will come to many other points, but the fact is that the scheme in England has not been formally evaluated. Many members said that it is a shining example that we should follow, but without a formal evaluation it is a bit early to say that.

The sustainability and financing of the proposed mandatory scheme in Scotland need to be assessed carefully in the light of the evidence on the extent to which there is a problem with unfairly withheld tenancy deposits in Scotland. The previous Administration shared that view. When Johann Lamont, in her role as Deputy Minister for Communities, gave evidence during the passage of the Housing (Scotland) Bill, she said:

"We will not introduce any scheme whose cost we consider disproportionate."—[Official Report, Communities Committee, 5 October 2005; c 2502.]

Housing issues in Scotland are different from those in the rest of the United Kingdom, so we need to look for the right solution for Scotland. Members will be aware that a number of initiatives are under way in Scotland with the aim of increasing standards in private rented accommodation. Those include landlord registration and the repairing standard, neither of which exists in England and Wales.

All landlords in Scotland letting to three or more unrelated people require an HMO licence. In addition, our new national landlord accreditation scheme gives us an opportunity to promote good practice across the board in relation to tenancy management in general and not just tenancy deposits. In particular, landlord registration allows local authorities to take account of any evidence that landlords or letting agents have unfairly withheld their tenants' deposits. I encourage any tenants who experience problems with their landlord to contact the relevant local authority landlord registration team. Local authorities have a range of powers to take action when they are concerned about a landlord's practice.

The recently launched national voluntary landlord accreditation scheme will also help to drive up standards by promoting best practice in private letting and by providing training, advice and support for landlords, including training on tenancy deposit management. Over time, those initiatives should help to tackle any landlords or letting agents who are found to have unfairly withheld their tenants' deposit. It is that holistic approach to improving standards in private renting in the round—not just in tenancy deposits—that will make a difference in Scotland.

The Government is taking steps to gather evidence on the scale and nature of unfairly withheld deposits. We are working with a stakeholder group that is currently examining the issue in more detail. The group includes members from the NUS, Shelter, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, private landlords and others. The group agreed that it was important to develop an evidence base on the scale and nature of unfairly withheld tenancy deposits in Scotland.