The majority of deposits protected in schemes in England have been returned to tenants over the past decade, the Government has revealed.
Housing minister Gavin Barwell provided figures on the number of deposits protected, submitted and returned in London in recent years following a parliamentary question from Labour MP Diana Johnson about how many deposits are adjudicated before being returned.
The figures don’t make clear whether these deposits are in custodial or insured schemes, but show 545,937 deposits were protected in 2015-16 by either the Deposit Protection Service, MyDeposits or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. This is up from 499,098 the year before.
Barwell said: “Overall, 98% of all deposits protected in England since the launch of the tenancy deposit scheme in 2007 are returned to the tenant at the end of their tenancy.”
Tenants’ deposits protected in Greater London
| Year | Total number of deposits protected |
| 2011-12 | 434,031 |
| 2012-13 | 398,635 |
| 2013-14 | 453,200 |
| 2014-15 | 499,098 |
| 2015-16 | 545,937 |
Tenants’ deposits submitted and returned in Greater London
| Year | Number of deposits submitted | Number of deposits returned |
| 2011-12 | 74,202 | 55,550 |
| 2012-13 | 77,709 | 62,341 |
| 2013-14 | 82,613 | 67,583 |
| 2014-15 | 88,465 | 70,105 |
| 2015-16 | 90,849 | 76,305 |
Comments (2)
@ajayjagota75
Research has also shown that 284,000 landlords are not using the deposit scheme and that 514 million pounds of deposits were unprotected.
‘While many landlords are doing the right thing and protecting deposits in one of the official government backed schemes, a worrying amount of money is falling through the cracks and far too many tenants are being left vulnerable,’ said Hannah Maundrell, editor in chief of money.co.uk.
The Scheme is their to protect everyone. If everyone used the scheme then tenants would not need a company like ours to help them get their deposits back. https://depositdispute.com (please delete url if it is not allowed)
So in conclusion – what a waste of time money and resources using cash deposits – nationally there is £3.5 billion held in these schemes!