On April 6th 2012, the Localism Act 2011 commences. The Act is designed to address various areas of the law and procedure, of which the current government are unhappy, mainly the devolution of powers to local government, planning, council tax, social housing matters and London.

Out of 10 Parts, 241 Provisions and 25 Schedules (over 200 pages), we are interested in only one part for the purposes of the Private Rented Sector and this article, which equates to only one page and that is Part 184, which affects and adjusts deposit protection.

HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation) are also addressed in the Localism Act, but the Part concerned only defines co-operative societies, omitted from Schedule 14 of the Housing Act 2004 where the act describes buildings that are not HMOs.

Alarm bells have begun to ring with certain authorities within the residential lettings sector about Part 184 and the implications, going forward.