Jersey’s housing minister is calling for hundreds of local landlords to be investigated for potentially not putting deposits into an approved independent tenancy deposit scheme.

Deputy Sam Mézec wants action to be taken after it transpired that nobody has ever been prosecuted despite the rules having been in place since 2015, with fines of up to £10,000 applicable.

Official figures show that between 2020 and 2023, almost a fifth of deposits submitted to the official Jersey scheme were not done within the agreed 30-day window.

Mézec said: “It’s disappointing that we have evidence lots of landlords aren’t putting their tenant’s deposits in the scheme within the required time limit and not a lot has been done to enforce that.

“There needs to be a look at why this hasn’t been enforced properly because if it isn’t, some people will question the value of the scheme at all.”

A separate landlord licensing scheme was recently rolled out in Jersey, requiring anyone receiving money for renting out rooms to buy a £60 permit per home and renew it every two years.

Latest figures show that rental income from private households makes up around 16% of the island’s economy, only surpassed by financial services that covers 37.5%.