Many landlords have failed to comply with the new Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme launched at the beginning of this month and the new rules have been described as a "logistical nightmare" by many residential letting agents in England and Wales.

The scheme, which launched on 6th April requires landlords to register any of their new tenancies with one of the three government-approved schemes. These schemes protect tenant's deposits and formalise the process of returning them at the end of the lease agreement.

However, ARLA (the Association of Residential Letting Agents) suspect that a large number of landlords are still unaware of the change in law - despite there having been many publicity campaigns from different parties. Up to three quarters of private landlords are thought not to have joined a scheme yet, whether it is because they are simply unaware of the development or confused by the last minute changes.

Residential letting agents are blaming the government for not allowing enough time for the industry to prepare for the changes and also for failure to inform private landlords. In the run-up to the scheme's launch there had been lobbying attempts to delay by up to three months but these were not successful.

Many letting agents found themselves rewriting complicated tenancy agreements only hours before the new rules came in because of last minute changes. Some agents are still waiting to find out how to register new tenants - a dangerous game when you consider that landlords who do not register can be fined up to three times the rental deposit and lose the right to evict tenants.