• Under the Localism Act 2011 if landlords fail to register or protect tenants' deposits they face a fine of one to three times (as amended later) the value of the deposits! And fail to provide the prescribed  information within 30 days of receipt of deposits and landlords can be sued up to six years later, yes even following a tenant's departure.  Say an ex tenant finds themselves in future penury, perhaps unable to buy a new car?   "I know..., what is my old landlord's name from five years ago?  I'll get them to pay!"  And  pay they will.  Pay day might take on a new meaning, deposit day.
• Fail to market a property without attaching an EPC- another fine!  And, you  may no longer be a "fit and proper person" to licence a property.
• Fail to update a gas safety certificate - fine £5000 or worse! Go to jail, do not  collect £200 instead pay many times more in compensation to your victims!
• Fail to Licence a Licensable property - fine! And, denied use of  section 21 Accelerated Notice to Quit and suffer a rent repayment order of up to the last 12 months rent.
• Fail to comply with Council Improvement Notice - fine or worse!
• Fail to register for Data protection via ICO - massive fine!
• Personally this is all just fine by me. As a landlord and letting agent, I  am tired of being tarred with the same brush as non-compliant landlords.
• Localism Bill 2010 from 15 November 2011 became Localism Act

THE LOCALISM ACT:

• A five part Act, one of these parts - housing affects Deposits:
• How will new rules affect landlords / agents?
• Landlords accepting deposits will have tighter rules of compliance or face a  minimum fee of 1 times the value of the deposit or up to one to three times the value  for serious breaches. Starting to feel not so fine? There's more!
• In addition, landlords can be sued for up to 6 years after the tenancy ends  where landlords return deposits but, fail to provide the prescribed information and register deposits within 30 days.
• And that's not all - the section 21 (Accelerated Notice to Quit) is not  available to non-compliant landlords, so no sympathy from the courts if your  tenants do not pay their rent - you can only use section 8 notice (much slower)!
• This came into effect on 6 April 2012. Letting agents and landlords that do not take deposits are unaffected.
• Deposits taken prior to the protection scheme was introduced are not  regulated i.e. pre 6 April 2007 UNLESS you have renewed meantime.
• No renewal means no need to register.
• So a continuing periodic tenancy originating before 2007 is not required to  be registered until renewed (but see revised legislation post 1 May 2012 all deposits must be registered.
• Localism Act re EPCs:
• A remnant from Hips, EPC rules changed from 6 April 2012
• For now it is important that landlords and agents provide an EPC with all marketing material or face fines and loss of reputation.
• From 2018 under the Green Deal any property with a certificate rating below  'E' was banned from the lettings market. I.e. 'F' and 'G' are un-lettable without additional work to raise the rating. Leydon Lettings have no  properties rated as low as this so were unaffected.  However from 2025 all new tenancies must achieve a minimum of 'C; rating to comply and by 2028 all rented properties regardless of whether a new tenancy, must also comply.