Member Article

Is the tide turning against tenancy deposits?

Major newspaper article describes Dlighted’s deposit-free renting as “affordable” “comprehensive” and “a real solution”

A number of prominent press articles have highlighted the hazards of traditional tenancy deposits to renters and landlords alike – showing how public opinion could be turning against deposits once and for all.

The Evening Standard this week published an article stating that “having to raise weeks of rent in advance cripples young Londoners”, posing the question “could insurance be the answer?”

Leading deposit replacement insurance firm Dlighted was described in the article as “affordable”, “comprehensive” and “a real solution” to the problem.

The Sun also this week ran an article entitled “My landlord or letting agent won’t return my security deposit, what can I do?

The article claimed that “Nearly a third of renters in the UK lose their deposit every year, totalling over £1 billion lost by Brits when moving out”

An article in The Times also stated “My landlord hasn’t registered my deposit and I am worried about getting the money back”

Channel 5’s “Bad Tenants, Rogue Landlords” also returns to television screens this week, with the first episode focused on a renter who lost £4,200 after paying a deposit and rent to a letting agent in Essex.

Ajay Jagota is founder of leading deposit free renting firm Dlighted. Dlighted allows renters to let properties with zero deposit while protecting landlords and letting agents with deposit replacement insurance.

He is also head of the #ditchthedeposit campaign, which argues that the government should encourage the private rented sector to adopt deposit free renting and allow the £4.2bn of renter’s cash held currently in deposits to be transferred into Help to Buy savings accounts.

He said:

“Just one week’s worth of media coverage shows that the concerns of renters and landlords alike are mounting when it comes to deposits – and rightly so.

“This explosion of media interest in zero deposit renting shows that the tide is turning against traditional tenancy deposit schemes, and not before time.

“For years we’ve been highlighting how deposits don’t really protect landlords against property damage and rent arrears, but do make it harder to find and keep good tenants – and how they make it impossible for some renters to find decent homes, let alone save for properties of their own.

“We’ve also shined a light on quite how much of tenant’s cash vanishes from deposit accounts every year – something likely to get worse when Tenant Fees are banned”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Hart .