Comments on: Tenancy Deposit Scheme charges – an update

By: Peter M

Peter M — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:15:32 +0000

Now I am renting with an agent who uses MyDeposits and my agent has charged me a £65.00 deposit handling fee. So, in order for my agent to meet their legal obligations, and after paying them a seperate £150.00 administrative fee for my tennancy, they charge me more than double what they pay to insure the deposit, which they themselves get to keep a hold of, so getting it back is even harder than it ever was.

Was the deposit protection scheme not set up to ELIMINATE exactly this kind of behaviour?

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:44:11 +0000

I agree. In USA I was paying administration fees between $25 and $75. For the same thing in UK you have to pay £200. Part of the fee is tenancy deposit scheme charge! It is important to document any minor damage in the property before you move in. Otherwise you can be sure that you are going to pay for it from your deposit when your are moving out. Actually letting agencies usually try to find any reason to take money form your deposit. Even normal wear is usually good excuse for them to take at least part of deposit. They know there is nothing you can do (that would justify effort, lost time) if they take for example £50 of your deposit for no reason.

By: Tessa Shepperson

Tessa Shepperson — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:49:12 +0000

That will be the arbitrator/Independent Case Examiner used by the TDS. Have a look at this post here: http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2010/04/16/tenancy-deposit-arbitrations-common-mistakes/ and also this one: http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2009/09/03/tenancy-deposit-arbitrations-why-landlords-keep-losing/

By: Simon Hampton

Simon Hampton — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:13:57 +0000

I have just used the TDS as a Landlord. I am extremly dissatisfied with their performance. It would apear that they are short of time and have not examined the case properly, leaving me with £1200 of repairs to get my property back to acceptable condition, with the tenant required to pay a derisory £100.00! Despite the fact that the broke two beds, blocked pipes and damaged walls.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:35:33 +0000

I think it important to understand that the ‘free’ ADR function is directly linked to the fee income (insured or custodial) collected by any of the TDP schemes, whatever the legislation intended. The reason it is a problem for TDS Ltd is that they seemingly pursued their stated corporate ethic as being ‘not for profit’, to an unsustainable level.
If the national average ADR usage level is 1.5% as has been regularly stated, then a charge per tenancy of say £15 would seem to be both affordable and provide a profit for the scheme provider. So why not charge landlord and tenant £7.50 each at the outset. As a proportion of the tenancy costs i.e. referencing and the actual deposit itself it is de minimus?