Q. I rent out the ground floor of my house to tenants. My tenants are complaining that I did not protect their deposit in a tenancy deposit scheme. I thought I did not have to as I am a resident landlord, but are they right?

A. No, you are right. The tenancy deposit scheme only applies to deposits paid in connection with assured shorthold tenancies. As you are a resident landlord, their tenancy cannot be an assured shorthold tenancy as this is one of the exceptions set out in Schedule 1 of the Housing Act 1988.

So, you do not need to worry.  

Q. My insurance policy does not allow me to rent my property to tenants on benefit. When I was advertising recently for a new tenant one of the applicants, Ms C was a single mother. I did quite like her as a prospective tenant but when she told me she was on benefit I had to tell her that I could not rent to her.

She is now threatening to sue me for compensation for unlawful discrimination. Can she do this?