Early Day Motions 1558 and 1557

Unipol and the National Union of Students have written two Early Day Motions (EDM numbers 1557 and 1558) which ask for two technical changes which would allow more students and young people to be protected by Tenancy Deposit Protection legislation.

I urge you to download the ‘standard letter’ and send it to your local MP asking them to support and sign either one or both of these EDMs.

The EDMs address two key areas. Under current Tenancy Deposit Protection legislation, which was passed with overwhelming all party support and came into force from April 2007, deposits for tenants renting in the private sector on Assured Shorthold Tenancies (AST’s) must be protected in one of three prescribed schemes. Yet, significant numbers of tenants remain unprotected because tenancies where the annual rent exceeds £25,000 are outside of the protection offered by AST’s. The National Union of Students estimates that this means that 40% of students in London and the South East and 10% of students elsewhere cannot be protected. NUS also estimates that of students living in accommodation provided by their educational establishment, 50% of deposits taken are not returned within 2 months of the end of the tenancy.

EDM 1558 asks that the government raise the current threshold for AST’s from £25,000 which was set in 1990 (to take ‘luxury lets’ out of AST protection) to £52,000 the amount the threshold would be if it had been linked to RPI. EDM 1557 asks that the timescales specified in the Tenancy Deposit Protection Legislation for the return of deposits, ten working days, be included in the approved Code of Practice Educational Institutions have to sign under Section 233 of the Housing Act 2004.

The Early Day Motions

EDM 1558   Protecting Tenant Deposits in the Private Rented Sector

That this house expresses concern that although deposit protection was introduced with overwhelming support from April 2007 to protect tenants renting in the private sector on assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) a significant number of tenants remain unprotected because tenancies where the annual rent exceeds £25,000 are outside of the protection offered by ASTs; notes that many dwellings let on joint tenancies exceed that £25,000 limit (estimated by NUS/Unipol at 40% of all student tenants in London and the South East and 10% of student tenants throughout the rest of England and Wales); further notes that threshold of £25,000 was set in 1990 to take "luxury lets" out of AST protection and that had this threshold been indexed to RPI it would now be £52,000; calls on the Government to raise the current AST threshold to £52,000 (and index it hereafter) in order to protect many young and vulnerable house-sharers renting in the private sector, as was originally intended by introducing deposit protection.

EDM 1557    Return of Deposits by Educational Establishments

That this House notes with concern that, although educational establishments were exempted from certain provisions of the Housing Act 2004, including deposit protection, if they signed an Approved Code of Practice under section 233 of the Housing Act 2004, a problem remains with educational establishments taking a long time to return deposits and that National Union of Students/Unipol estimates that over 50 per cent. of deposits taken are not returned to students within two months of their tenancies ending and some take many months; further notes that the time set under tenant deposit protection for the return of a deposit is 10 days; and calls on the Government to require the tenancy deposit protection timescales for the return of students' money to be written into the Approved Code of Practice forthwith.

Link to the Early Day Motions Database Web Site: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMList.aspx

It is well recognised that students make up a significant and often vulnerable part of the private rental sector and it vital that students and young people’s rights as tenants are not overlooked. Furthermore, as the average age of first time homeownership is 34, educating students in their rights and responsibilities as tenants has the potential to have wide reaching impacts in the private rented sector.

What can you do?

For the government to take notice of these EDMs we need to get as many MPs signing their support as possible. You can help by e-mailing, writing or speaking to your local MP. Unipol and NUS have written a standard letter that you can download and then e-mail to your local MP. This letter asks the MP to support and sign the EDMs, all you have to do is fill in your MPs name and your name.

Please download the standard Letter here 

 To find out who your local MPs is: http://www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm