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Residential property deposit adjudication scheme hailed a success in UK

Since a new tenancy deposit protection scheme was introduced two years ago this month there has been a revolution in favour of tenants, according to mydeposits.co.uk, which runs an independent adjudication service.

The survey points out that before the protection scheme was set up landlords could unfairly withhold their tenant's deposits. Short of pursuing their landlord through the courts, a costly and time consuming process, there was little the tenant could do to get their money back.

But now landlords are not able to keep deposits at the end of the tenancy without good reason. Two years on it is being hailed as a victory for consumers as on the whole tenants' deposits are no longer being unfairly withheld. And where they are, the law protects them.

Figures from mydeposits.co.uk show that 91% of dispute cases settled by the scheme's independent adjudication service found in favour of the tenant. The average amount in dispute was £733, which is significantly lower than the average deposit of £1,052. In only 9% of cases landlords and letting agents were able to withhold the full deposit.

'Mydeposits.co.uk exists for tenants. We can now clearly see the protection laws are working. All cases are decided fairly using evidence presented by both parties,' said Eddie Hooker, Chief Executive.

'It is also important to remember that most deposits are handed back at the end of the tenancy without any problems. This is a clear signal that, for the most part, landlords and tenants make the right decisions with regards to deposits. In fact, out of the 335,000 deposits protected, only a tiny fraction (0.35%) was independently adjudicated,' he added.

Mydeposits is the trading name of Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited, a company jointly owned by the National Landlords Association and HFIS plc T/A Hamilton Fraser Insurance (the Scheme Administrator) to deliver an insurance-backed tenancy deposit protection scheme under contract from Communities & Local Government.

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