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Sarah Down and her partner Neil Stephens were looking for a new place to move into last June. They are both young professionals and when they saw a flat for rent in Cardiff Bay, they thought it was ideal.

"The location was brilliant to get to work. Also from the flat we could see that it had great views all over the Bay," Sarah told us.

"There wasn't an agency fee and we were looking for more of a friendly landlord."

They were so impressed with the location they decided to sign up almost immediately and paid landlord, Luke Raine, a deposit of £600. They got a tenancy agreement and everything looked as it should, as Sarah told us:

"It just looked like a pretty bog standard tenancy agreement, similar to ones I've seen before. I didn't question it. The whole situation seemed quite relaxed and casual. I didn't question anything," she said.

But when their tenancy agreement came to an end a year later and they moved out, things were far from relaxed. They'd expected to get their £600 deposit back fairly quickly, but two months after they moved out, they still hadn't heard from the landlord.

Sarah explained: "I was pretty angry but more confused. I didn't understand why he didn't want to contact us, why he didn't want to give the bond back as it seemed. And we just wanted to get it sorted because we didn't see what the problem was."

For Steve Povey from the housing charity, Shelter Cymru, the situation is far too common.

"We see plenty of cases where there have been disputes at the end of tenancies and for the tenants involved it can be both quite distressing and also causes them problems with getting their next tenancy," Steve told us.

But the law is actually on the tenants' side when it comes to deposits. Since April 2007, it's a legal requirement for them to be held in something called a deposit protection scheme.

There are two types of deposit scheme available and it's up to the landlord to choose which one he uses.

They can pay the whole deposit to an agency, which holds the cash until the end of the tenancy. Or they can pay a premium to an insurance company who will intervene in the event of a dispute.

The law says that a landlord must provide their tenant with details of where their deposit is being held, within 14 days of the start of a rental. But Sarah never received that information, and wonders if her £600 was ever put in a deposit scheme?

"I didn't even actually realise that it was a legal requirement to have your bond secured. That was our money and I was afraid we were not going to see that money again," she said.

Steve Povey from Shelter explained there are penalties for not complying with the law.

"If the landlord doesn't comply with the regulations there are two main sanctions available," he said.

"It's a lot harder for the landlord to evict the tenant, but the main sanction is the law also requires the court to order the landlord, as a penalty, to pay to the tenant a sum equivalent to three times the value of the deposit," he said.

Because Luke Raine hadn't let the couple know whether he'd protected the deposit, he was breaking the law. They took him to the small claims court where they were awarded £1,800 as compensation, on top of their original deposit of six hundred pounds. Neil wasn't aware he had the right to do this.

"Everything I've read in the past has always been about the landlord: this is what the landlord can do, this is what you have to do as a tenant for the landlord. I never realised there was a legal action that we could take as tenants against him," he said.

If you have any doubts or concerns at all, then you can get advice from Shelter Cymru, from your local citizens advice bureau or from your local housing department at the council.

But despite winning in court, Sarah and Neil still haven't received the bond money or the £1,800 compensation the landlord was ordered to pay them.

X-Ray got in touch with Sarah and Neil's landlord, Luke Raine, who is currently appealing through the small claims procedure in the County Court.

We asked him why he hadn't put his tenants' deposit into one of the protection schemes and why they still haven't had their money back? But despite all our efforts, he hasn't answered our questions.

These schemes allow tenants to get all or part of their deposit back when they are entitled to it and make any disputes easier to resolve.

They also encourage tenants and landlords to make a clear agreement from the start on the condition of the property.

There are two types of tenancy deposit protection scheme available for landlords and letting agents:

• Insurance-based scheme
• Custodial scheme

All schemes provide a free dispute resolution service.

The landlord retains the tenant's deposit and pays a premium to the insurer.

Within 14 days of receiving a deposit:

The landlord or agent must give the tenant the details about how their deposit is protected including:

• the contact details of the tenancy deposit scheme selected
• how to apply for the release of the deposit
• information explaining the purpose of the deposit
• what to do if there is a dispute about the deposit

At the end of the tenancy:

If an agreement is reached about how the deposit should be divided, the landlord or agent returns all or some of the deposit.

If there is a dispute, the landlord must hand over the disputed amount to the scheme for safekeeping until the dispute is resolved.

If for any reason the landlord fails to comply, the insurance arrangements will ensure the return of the deposit to the tenant if they are entitled to it.

The landlord or agent pays the deposit into the scheme

Within 14 days of receiving a deposit:

The landlord or agent must give the tenant the details about how their deposit is protected including:

• the contact details of the tenancy deposit scheme selected
• the landlord or agent's contact details
• how to apply for the release of the deposit
• information explaining the purpose of the deposit
• what to do if there is a dispute about the deposit

At the end of the tenancy:

If an agreement is reached about how the deposit should be divided, the scheme will return the deposit, divided in the way agreed by both parties.

If there is a dispute, the scheme will hold the deposit until the dispute resolution service or courts decide what is fair.

The interest accrued by deposits in the scheme will be used to pay for the running of the scheme. Any surplus will be used to offer interest to the tenant, or to the landlord if the tenant is not entitled to it.

For more information you can log on to the governments advice pages at