Tenancy Deposit Protection 5 Year Review
Tenancy Deposit Protection 2007-2012
Tenancy Deposit protection was introduced in April 2007 to England and Wales as part of the 2004 Housing Act (as amended). Deposits have to be registered by landlords within certain timescales and tenants must be provided with full details.
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme have recently published a review into how the different schemes have performed since the regulations were introduced. Three tenancy deposit protection companies' figures were looked at; The Tenancy Deposit Scheme, The Deposit Protection Service and MyDeposits.
The review details figures on rental stock, amount of deposits protected, the value of the deposits, amount of disputes and more.
The amount of private rented stock has increased in the period since tenancy deposit protection was introduced according to the report. In March 2007 there were 2.808 million properties and in March 2011 there were 3.799 million showing an increase of almost one million properties.
The total number of deposits protected in March 2008 was 924,181 which more than doubled to 2,374,385 by March 2012. The value of the deposits totalled at £885,098,501 in March 2008 and £2,325,317,445 in March 2012. The average deposit amount however has not massively changed in this period, going from £958 in 2008 to £979 in 2012.
Tenancy Deposit Protection Disputes
Disputes have increased massively in the past five years from 458 in March 2008 to 20,279 in March 2012. The tenancy deposit protection services report that 52% of dispute cases in 2012 involve cleaning as a reason for the dispute followed by damage in 45% of cases and decoration in 28%. Detailed inventories are proving increasingly vital in dispute cases and landlords are recommended to make sure they have inventories signed off by tenants at the start of the tenancy and complete a check in and check out report.
Changes in Tenancy Deposit Protection
The regulations for deposit protection have changed this year, are you up to date? There's new rules on the timescales for registering deposits and the penalties for non compliance.
