Wales Landlord Penalties: Written Statement Compensation and Notice Non-Compliance

Welsh landlord law restricts specified no-fault notices when key requirements are unmet, and it also imposes financial consequences. A late written statement can lead to statutory compensation of up to two months' rent before you start the notice process.

Written Statement: The Two-Month Compensation Risk

For a new occupation contract, Section 31 of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 requires the landlord to provide the written statement within 14 days of the occupation date. Converted contracts had a separate six-month information provision period from 1 December 2022 under Schedule 12. If the applicable deadline is missed, two things happen.

First, you cannot serve a Section 173 no-fault notice until you actually provide the statement. Second, once you do provide it late, a six-month delay bar starts running — you cannot serve a Section 173 notice until six months after the date you finally hand over the written statement.

The compensation is set by statute at one day's rent for each day the written statement is late, up to two months' rent. It is not a discretionary RPTW award based on the delay's impact. If the failure was intentional, the contract-holder may apply to the court to increase the compensation by up to 100%.

For a property at £800 per month, the standard cap is £1,600; if the court applies the full increase for intentional failure, the total can reach £3,200 — on top of the months of additional occupation while you wait out the six-month delay bar.

Deposit Protection Penalties

Failing to protect a deposit in an approved scheme (DPS, MyDeposits, or TDS) within 30 days of receipt creates an absolute bar on serving a Section 173 notice, a Section 186 notice, a notice under a landlord's break clause, or a converted fixed-term notice under paragraph 25B(2) of Schedule 12. The bar remains until the deposit is returned in full or with agreed deductions, or a County Court application about the deposit is decided, withdrawn, or settled by agreement.

For an occupation contract, Schedule 5 to the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 requires the County Court to order compensation of one to three times the deposit amount when the statutory grounds for a deposit application are made out. On a typical £1,000 deposit, that means up to £3,000 in compensation.

Prohibited Payments Under the Fees Act

The Renting Homes (Fees, Discrimination etc.) (Wales) Act 2019 makes it unlawful to charge prohibited payments — application fees, reference fees, or holding deposits beyond the permitted amount. If you have taken a prohibited payment, you cannot serve a Section 173 notice, a Section 186 notice, a landlord break-clause notice, or a converted fixed-term notice under paragraph 25B(2) of Schedule 12 until it is repaid.

An enforcement authority can issue a fixed penalty notice offering settlement for £1,000 for an offence. Prosecution for repeat offences can result in an unlimited fine.

Rent Smart Wales Licensing

The property must be registered with Rent Smart Wales before a landlord gives a Section 173 or Section 186 notice, or a notice under a landlord's break clause. The landlord must be licensed or have appointed a licensed agent to carry out all property-management work. If those preconditions are unmet when a covered no-fault notice is served, the notice is invalid; a later possession claim may be dismissed, and the court issue fee is not refunded.

Performing regulated letting or management work without the required Rent Smart Wales licence is a criminal offence. A landlord who appoints a licensed agent to carry out all property-management work does not need a separate licence for that work, but must still register.

How the Penalties Compound

These are not alternative risks — they stack. A landlord who never issued a written statement, did not protect the deposit on time, and let their Rent Smart Wales licence lapse faces:

• Up to two months' rent in written-statement compensation, potentially doubled by the court for intentional failure
• Up to three times the deposit in protection penalties
• A criminal offence for unlicensed management
• A bar on the specified no-fault notices until each applicable requirement is met, with a further six-month wait after a late written statement
• A six-month wait after providing the late written statement

The cheapest path through this is compliance from day one. But if you are already behind, the priority is fixing every deficiency before spending money on notices and court claims.

Our Ending an Occupation Contract in Wales guide includes a step-by-step pre-service compliance audit covering every Schedule 9A requirement, so you catch these issues before they become penalties.

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