Letting Agents Move To DPS Scheme

Let-Leeds have been working with the DPS Scheme for 2 years now, predominantly due to the scheme being the only Protection service to physically protect Tenants deposits. However, it has now emerged that hundreds more Letting Agent are now transferring their deposits from the TDS to the DPS scheme following a large hike in subscriptions for the TDS earlier this year.

“A lot more agents are using us, and 40 agents are now using our bulk upload facility,” said Firth, “but we also saw a big increase in landlords whose agents had been using TDS. “The price rise was being passed on to them, and while they are still using the agent, they decided to take responsibility for the deposit protection themselves.”

He said he believed that the Lettings Industry is becoming increasingly compliant with tenancy deposit protection law. The DPS has a very low dispute rate of 1.7% of all deposits protected.

“Every day, we take on anywhere between 200 and 250 new landlords, and 20 new agents. I would guess that compliance is rising all the time, and the people out there who aren’t complying now are never going to comply – probably because their tenants are vulnerable and aren’t going to report them.”

He said approximately 60% of disputes are dealt with internally, and 40% externally. “I don’t agree that disputes are better dealt with either in-house or externally,” said Firth. “What matters is that all our adjudicators are totally professional.” When Alternative Dispute Resolution is needed, disputes go to a team of three in-house adjudicators and a team of external ones.

Let-Leeds Landlord News, Letting Agents Leeds, 18th June 2010

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