The last month has been an exceptionally busy one for letting agents around the UK as we battle to ensure we comply with the changes that are coming thick and fast to our industry. We have had new test cases hitting the headlines in relation to deposit registration with the Superstrike v Rodrigues case, regulatory guidance from the ASA (advertising standards agency) and the proposed new legislation in relation to immigration due to hit from April next year. This is alongside many more potential legislation changes over the next quarter that may also be coming into effect, all of which will mean drastic changes to our processes and the way we run our businesses from now on.

The biggest surprise was the Superstrike case. This was a ruling by a judge that his interpretation of the rules are that, when a tenancy expires and therefore goes into SPT (Statutory Periodic Tenancy) it is in fact a 'new' tenancy, and therefore the deposit should have been re-registered, (unless you had a clause in the original contract stating that the contract would continue periodically upon its end), and therefore new 'prescribed information' should have been issued and the deposit registrations schemes guidance notes also given.

This ruling goes against the guidance notes on the deposit registration schemes own websites and has quite frankly put the lettings industry into a bit of chaos, as industry leaders try to make sense of the ruling and offer advice as to what as agents we should be doing.