Tenancy deposit scheme - weighted in favour of the tenant?

We all know that the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) was set up for tenants not landlords.

It's there to protect the tenants deposits and recent experience from the arbitrators show that their starting point is that the deposit is the tenants unless the landlord can prove conclusively that they are due monies from the deposited sum.

The latest recognition of the custodial scheme where landlords pay the full deposit to the Deposit Protection Service (DPS) is that some tenants either don't believe that they will get their deposit back or have done a bunk leaving 8000 deposits in limbo.

It is possible for a landlord to get the money back but only by way of a landlord having to complete a statutory declaration which will be charged for by the landlords solicitor. The case is then referred to the arbitrators.

This places all the responsibility on the landlord.

Surely more responsibility should be placed on the tenant to ensure that they keep their address details up to date and it should be for the landlord to bare the costs and the hassle of getting what is often money owed to them returned?


landlord insurance