Unclaimed tenant deposits close to £5m

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by Gill Montia

The Deposit Protection Service (DPS) has reported that it is sitting on almost £5 million in deposits waiting to be claimed by tenants.

Legislation that demanded deposit protection for all assured shorthold tenancies in England and Wales was introduced in April 2007, and the DPS says it currently protects over 480,000 deposits.

However, over 8,000 in its care are waiting for a response from the lead tenant before they can be repaid.

DPS director, Kevin Firth, explains: “We are committed to repaying deposits as quickly as possible, but unfortunately, some tenants are not keeping their contact details up to date – resulting in this large number of unpaid deposits.”

Following a review of its processes, the firm has found that it is more successful in tracing tenants if a mobile phone number or valid email address are supplied from the outset.

It is therefore introducing changes to its online registration process and will be requiring landlords to provide this information for the lead tenant.

In addition, DPS has plans to introduce SMS text messaging to alert tenants when a deposit repayment has been initiated by their landlord or letting agent.