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A decision made (06/10/2009) regarding: P.130/2009 Comment - Rental Deposit Scheme to Protect Tenants' Deposits.

Decision Reference: MD-H-2009-0082
Decision Summary Title :	Presentation of Comment of the Minister for Housing to P130/2009 “Rental Deposit Scheme to protect Tenants’ Deposits”		Date of Decision Summary:	30th September 2009
Decision Summary Author:	Melanie Cavey, Project Officer, Population Office		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:
Written Report Title :	Comment of the Minister for Housing to P130/2009 “Rental Deposit Scheme to protect Tenants’ Deposits”		Date of Written Report:	30th September 2009
Written Report Author:	Paul Bradbury, Director, Population Office		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Proposal for a Landlord Registration Scheme in lieu of a Tenants Deposit Scheme
Decision(s): The Assistant Minister for Housing, acting on behalf of the Minister for Housing, decided to present to the States the comment of the Minister for Housing in response to the proposition ’Rental deposit scheme to protect tenants’ deposits’ (P130/2009) lodged ‘au Greffe’ by Deputy G.P. Southern of St. Helier on 18th August 2009.
Reason(s) for Decision: The Residential Tenancy (Jersey) Law 2009 was adopted by the States in July 2009. The law allows for a Tenants’ Deposit Scheme to be introduced by Regulation. During the debate on the law the Minister for Housing advised that a Report would be issued in the autumn giving proposals for a scheme suited to the Island. That Report is nearly completed and it is intended to publish it for consultation at the end of October. However, in the interim Deputy Southern has lodged P130/2009 asking the States to require the Minister for Housing to bring forward a Regulation to establish a rental deposit scheme by March 2010. Consultation on the model of deposit protection suited to Jersey has not taken place. Given the importance of this issue to thousands of tenants, lodgers, householders, and landlords in Jersey, and the effects this may have on their daily lives, it is important that they have opportunity to comment. There are also potential complex legal and operational aspects of any scheme which practitioners should have opportunity to comment on. The Comment outlines the Minister for Housing’s proposal that consultation should take place on the alternative means of protecting deposits, including (a) a custodial deposit protection scheme, or (b) a wider Landlord Registration Scheme to include mechanisms to protect tenants’ deposits, which would also provide a spine of information that could be used to support other initiatives, in particular the monitoring of health and safety standards; fire inspections and incidents and change of address notifications for tenants under the forthcoming Migration Policy. Although it is acknowledged that some tenants do have difficulties in obtaining the fair return of deposit monies owning to them evidence available to the Minister indicates that the problem is of a limited scale when the numbers of complaints are set against the total number of units of accommodation that are offered for rental or lodging in the Island. During consultation on the Residential Tenancy Law it was acknowledged that the Petty Debts Court already offers a valuable service for those who have problems in this area and it is proposed to raise awareness of the mediation process managed by the Court. Therefore the Minister will recommend to States’ members that this proposition be rejected so that consultation can take place on these issues.
Resource Implications: The prime responsibility of the Population Office is the implementation of the Migration Policy. The proposed consultation process on the Landlord Registration Scheme and its outcomes would form a strategic part of the multi-agency work involved with the ongoing implementation of the Migration Policy by May 2011. Manpower resources in the department are limited and work on the Migration policy will need to be re-prioritised if it is decided to establish a Tenants’ Deposit scheme at the earliest opportunity. Alternatively extra manpower might be needed to carry out the necessary drafting and final research in order to establish a Tenants Deposit Scheme by March 2010. Indeed, in reality a scheme would be unlikely to be introduced before end 2010 once the necessary set up processes have been completed, a difference of 6 months over the proposed mid 2011 implementation date of a broader Landlord Registration Scheme in conjunction with the proposed implementation of the Migration Policy.
Action required: The Population Office Project Officer to send the comment to the Greffier of the States and ask him to present it to the States as soon as possible.
Signature:		Position:
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):