Reminder to students of tenancy deposit protection scheme

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by Lin Freestone

Students in England and Wales are being reminded of a Government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme when arranging their accommodation for the new academic year.

It is important for students to ask their new landlord where their cash is and with whom it is being protected. The overwhelming majority of tenancies have always ended amicably but mandatory tenancy deposit protection is now just part of a landlord’s legal responsibilities.

Although the onus is on landlords to comply with the new regulations introduced last year, tenants should make sure their deposit is protected and should ask their landlords if they don’t receive confirmation of protection within 14 days.

Landlords can register with mydeposits.co.uk, the trading name of Tenancy Deposit Solutions Ltd, in order to offer peace of mind to tenants, landlords and letting agents. mydeposits.co.uk offers a free and impartial dispute resolution service if there is a disagreement over how much of the deposit should be returned at the end of the tenancy.

The mydeposits.co.uk scheme, now in operation for 16 months and currently protecting more than 200,000 deposits, is also the only scheme specifically designed to enable landlords to hold on to tenancy deposits throughout the tenancy and offers a simple pay-as-you-go format with only modest fees.

Students can find out if their deposit has been protected with mydeposits.co.uk by visiting the website.

Tenancy Deposit Solutions Ltd is jointly owned by the National Landlords Association and HFIS plc, trading as Hamilton Fraser Insurance, the scheme administrator. The company delivers an insurance-backed tenancy deposit protection scheme under contract from Communities & Local Government.