Which Deposit Protection service to use? (i'm the tenant)

jl1_2

I need some opinions or experience on available Deposit Protection Services.

I have a slightly weird situation where my landlord wanted an informal agreement, but is now in the process of changing their minds as it appears they've just become aware of the rule/law that says because they haven't used a Deposit Protection Scheme, they're now liable for a fine of 3 times our deposit.

They want me and my partner to sign a letter waiving our rights to sue them over not using a deposit scheme, but we just want to tell them to use a deposit scheme.

I need to ask them to use a specific one to avoid any more messing around - so which one should it be?

I've found depositprotection.com - but the website looks a little bit underdeveloped, and the only review I've found so far on them is not favourable.

Thanks for any info

jl

Guy_Montag

jl1 wrote: »

I need some opinions or experience on available Deposit Protection Services.

I have a slightly weird situation where my landlord wanted an informal agreement, but is now in the process of changing their minds as it appears they've just become aware of the rule/law that says because they haven't used a Deposit Protection Scheme, they're now liable for a fine of 3 times our deposit.

They want me and my partner to sign a letter waiving our rights to sue them over not using a deposit scheme, but we just want to tell them to use a deposit scheme.

I need to ask them to use a specific one to avoid any more messing around - so which one should it be?

I've found depositprotection.com - but the website looks a little bit underdeveloped, and the only review I've found so far on them is not favourable.

Thanks for any info

jl

Probably these guys are your best bet.

http://www.depositprotection.com/

btw. You probably can't waive your rights to this & even if you don't have an AST on paper, courts will consider you to be living under AST rules (I believe).

BenL

I better talk to my landlord about this one as well, i'm in the process of renewing for another fixed 6 months and we hadn't discussed this.

Cheers

Ben

Lstclair55

The previous post is correct, it will be deemed you have an AST even if you don't have anything as such in writing saying it is an AST.

I work as a Letting Agent and feel the deposit schemes are a good thing and the custodial scheme would be the best bet to go with for both parties concerned. It is not going to cost you or your landlord anything to join and provides peice of mind to both.

jl1_2

The review I found of depositprotection.com was someone moaning about there being a huge delay getting their money back and the customer service being terrible - anyone have any evidence for/against this?

mlz1413

i found this link really easy to understand

www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/index.htm

sooz

jl1 wrote: »

The review I found of depositprotection.com was someone moaning about there being a huge delay getting their money back and the customer service being terrible - anyone have any evidence for/against this?

this is probably true, as the first 6 months of the scheme are up, so the first lot of deposits are just being returned. Perhaps some fine tuning needed,but they are the only option for the free to use scheme. The other 2 options both require payment, but the LL, but they might try to pass the cost on as admin fees.

silvercar

It really is for the landlord to sort out which scheme and the associated paperwork. I don't see why the tenants should have the burden of this. Tenants are protected if the landlord doesn't protect the deposit, so you have no need to do the landlord's work. If you do get involved, you will only get the blame if there is an admin problem further down the line.

Notlob

Lstclair55 wrote: »

The previous post is correct, it will be deemed you have an AST even if you don't have anything as such in writing saying it is an AST.

I work as a Letting Agent and feel the deposit schemes are a good thing and the custodial scheme would be the best bet to go with for both parties concerned. It is not going to cost you or your landlord anything to join and provides peice of mind to both.

Completely agree. It's a no brainer if your landlord only has a couple or so properties

Notlob

jl1_2

What's the advantage (presumably to the landlord?) of the insurance based scheme?

sooz

it costs them money a) to join the scheme and b) to insure the deposit, but they get to keep your deposit money in their pocket

for the free scheme, all the money gets sent to the third party