I have sometimes been critical of deposit schemes, especially when they go bust and leave everyone out of pocket but a story this week is a very positive one. Apparently The Deposit Protection Scheme has broken all records in protecting deposits recently after recruiting a huge number of new letting agent members.
Kevin Firth, director of the DPS is delighted with the way things are going for the industry in general and his particular company. He has had this to say
“When we launched, we were aimed at private landlords with small property portfolios. However, the DPS has proven popular across the whole industry, including large portfolio landlords and letting agents.We’re continually told by agents that tenants feel safer when their deposit is protected by a trusted third party rather than the agent or landlord – and they would prefer to choose an agent that has our sticker in the window.”
It is probably true that tenants feel safer when their money is protected by a trusted third party and actually landlords may well feel it is easier to hand the money over rather than look after it themselves. Hopefully the problems we have encountered were mainly teething problems and the The Deposit Protection Scheme will be a good thing for all concerned heading into the future.
