The majority of tenants in England and Wales get most or all of their deposit back when they move out, according to new data, busting the myth that landlords routinely withhold deposits unfairly.
Tenancy deposit protection scheme mydeposits says government-approved figures show that tenants receive all or part of their deposit back in 90% of cases in its insurance-backed scheme, and in more than 80% of cases within its custodial scheme.
Meanwhile, landlords receive 100% of the claimed deposit less than 20% of the time, and just 7% of the time in insurance scheme disputes.
These figures have been published as campaign group Generation Rent has continued to run a campaign claiming the overall system of government-approved deposit schemes isn't working for tenants, claims these figures contradict.
"Disputes within the custodial scheme were resolved in an average of 15 days in July"
mydeposits runs a free, formal alternative dispute resolution process designed to ensure fair and impartial outcomes, even if one party does not take part. It reports that disputes within the custodial scheme were resolved in an average of 15 days in July, while from May to July, the average resolution time was 21 days.
In the insurance scheme, resolution times are longer due to the different processes involved; the average resolution time in July was 55 days and across May to July, it was 59 days. #
Eddie Hooker (main image), CEO of mydeposits, says there’s a common assumption that tenants rarely get their deposits back, or that the system is too slow to resolve disputes.
“The data shows the opposite,” he explains. “Most tenants receive all or part of their deposit, and our custodial resolution process is delivering decisions within days.
"Where there is no dispute, or only a portion of the deposit is in question, we make sure the rest is returned as quickly as possible.”
Where only part of a deposit is in dispute, his deposit scheme aims to return any undisputed funds as quickly as possible whether custodial or insurance-backed.
Once a final decision has been made, the firm processes deposit returns on the same day in the custodial scheme, making it the fastest scheme in the market for post-adjudication payouts. In the insurance scheme, post-resolution payments are processed in an average of three days.
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