Compliance Mistakes That Cost Landlords
The biggest failures of landlords and agents is not following the statutory legislation. Any one of these can delay or even worse invalidate your claim.
Updated 8 January 2026
Legal Disclaimer
The information contained within TLA is intended for general guidance only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, tax or insurance advice. Legislation, court procedures and insurance policies change regularly. You should always seek professional advice before taking action. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the content is accurate, TLA accepts no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this information.
Compliance is not a one-off checkbox at tenancy start. Certificates expire, landlords change, and deposit schemes need renewal evidence. Small admin failures compound into five-figure losses when combined with court delays.
Prescribed Information
Did you know serving the Prescribed Information prior to the deposit being protected may result in a judge not evicting the tenant? Ensure you served it after the deposit has been protected.
Deposit protection
If you don't protect the deposit within 30 days of receiving it, you may have to repay the deposit and face up to 3x the amount if the tenants claim against you.
Gas Safety Certificates
Do you ever check if the engineer inputs all the details correctly? Judges may throw out a case if the three boxes are not fully complete.
RRA Leaflet
Have you sent the PDF to all the tenants? The government link is not sufficient and may result in a decline — you need to have sent the PDF.
Serving documents by email
Does your tenancy allow for documents to be sent via email? Not all tenancies allow this, so please check.
Rent and Legal Protection without arrears
Your policy supports you even where arrears are not present. Did you know once you have served a Section 8, if the tenant(s) fail to vacate, then your policy will cover the legal costs (subject to policy conditions)?
Don't make the mistake
Any one of these can delay or even worse invalidate your claim. Don't make the mistake — ensure you are compliant from day one. Preparation Today. Protection Tomorrow.