In April 2007 it became law that all assured shorthold tenancy deposits received by landlords and letting agents are required to be protected in a Government-authorised tenancy deposit protection scheme. The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS) is the only custodial scheme authorised by the Government. We require that the money you paid to your landlord/letting agent is physically paid over to us to safeguard for the duration of the tenancy. The deposit will be repaid at the end of the tenancy when both parties have reached agreement on its distribution.
We will pay the deposit over to The DPS within 30 days of receiving it and provide us with the tenancy details and your contact details. They also have a legal requirement to provide you with certain information about the tenancy - full details can be found on their website: www.depositprotection.com On receipt of the deposit, DPS will contact you to confirm that your deposit is protected. You will also be issued with your unique Repayment ID number. This is five digits long and must be kept somewhere safe as you will need this to request repayment of your deposit from us at the end of your tenancy.
We will forward your details to the DPS so make sure you have up-to-date details, most importantly your mobile phone number and/or email address. If you change your mobile phone number or email address during your tenancy, please make sure you contact The DPS to update them with this information. It is your responsibility to do so and will enable us to make the deposit repayment process as efficient as possible. In addition, when you move out please ensure that The DPS has your new forwarding address. It is important that you update the system with this address as we cannot do it for you.
You can update your contact details in one of four ways:
At the end of your tenancy, we agree a final amount of the deposit to be returned. Once this has been decided, we will initiate proceedings by informing DPS. Before the DPS make any repayment, you must accept the final repayment amount. They will notify you about this by email and you must fill out a Joint Deposit Repayment form, either online or using the paper form, providing them with your unique Repayment ID number.
Remember that everything can be done online. This helps to make the repayment process as quick and easy as possible. Once an online account is set up both parties can:
The DPS run an independent Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service which aims to resolve any dispute quickly and without the need for court action. It is an evidence-based adjudication service which requires the consent of both parties.
For more information visit www.depositprotection.com