£885m of tenants' cash safeguarded

Published	2 April 2008

Nearly £900m of tenants' deposits has been safeguarded under the Government's tenancy deposit protection scheme in its first year, new figures released today show.

The figures also reveal that 1m deposits have been protected at a rate of more than 2,500 a day since the scheme started on April 6, last year. At the current rate, £1bn will be safeguarded in the next six weeks.

Under the rules, landlords and agents have a legal duty to sign up to one of three Government-backed schemes when they take a deposit for a new assured short-hold tenancy.

Marking the first anniversary of the scheme, Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint said:

"With the average deposit now nearly £1000, the changes we have made mean thousands of tenants no longer risk waving goodbye to their cash.

"We want to ensure bitter disputes between tenants and landlords are a thing of the past. The new rules we have brought in achieve this by striking a fairer balance between the rights of both parties."

There are 1.7m assured short-hold tenancies, to which tenancy deposit protection applies, accounting for just under one in twelve of all households in England (2005/06).

Landlords not protecting a deposit taken since 6 April are committing a civil offence, which could lead to them having to pay tenants three times the value of the deposit and forfeit their right to possession of their property.

The level of disputes has been encouragingly low with only 458 adjudications so far.

Notes to editors

1. Further information on the Tenancy Deposit Scheme can be found at: www.communities.gov.uk/housing/rentingandletting/privaterenting/tenancydepositprotection/overviewoftenancydeposit/

2. Figures presented are the aggregates from the three scheme providers for Tenancy Deposit Protection. The three schemes are:

The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS) is a custodial scheme where landlords must hand over the deposit in full. Free to use and open to all Landlords and Letting Agents the DPS service is funded entirely from the interest earned from deposits held. If a dispute arises between the landlord and the tenant at the end of the tenancy the scheme will hold the amount until the dispute resolution service or courts decide what is fair.
Mydeposits.co.uk (external link) is a partnership between the National Landlords Association and Hamilton Fraser Insurance. This insurance-based tenancy deposit protection scheme enables landlords, either directly or through agents, to hold deposits.
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) is an insurance-backed deposit protection and dispute resolution scheme run by The Dispute Service that builds on a scheme established in 2003 to provide dispute resolution and complaints handling for the lettings industry. The new scheme enables letting agents and landlords to hold deposits.