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My Deposits Given Government Approval to Operate Custodial Scheme
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
My Deposits Given Government Approval to Operate Custodial Scheme
Tenancy deposit protection service My Deposits has been given Government approval to operate a custodial-based scheme in England and Wales from April 2016.
Landlords or their letting agents have been legally obliged to protect tenants’ deposits in England and Wales since 2007. Landlords and agents can choose between an insurance-based scheme that involves a fee, or a free-to-use custodial scheme.
The new announcement means that landlords and agents who prefer to use a custodial-based scheme now have the choice.
CEO of My Deposits, Eddie Hooker, comments: “My Deposits has been through a detailed procurement process with the Government and we are delighted to have been given the green light.
“We’ve been hopeful of winning the contract for some time and have already begun an exciting and ambitious reboot of My Deposits. We’re taking a fresh look at deposit protection and are investing in our systems and processes to create a faster, smarter scheme designed to remove delays and problems associated with deposit protection.”
He explains: “We’ve held numerous focus groups with landlords, letting agents and tenants, along with our sponsor, the National Landlords Association (NLA), to form a detailed blueprint of how we can improve. We are delighted that landlords and letting agents will soon have a genuine choice of which custodial scheme they use and look forward to welcoming anyone who wants to change from their current provider.
“Our scheme continues to go from strength to strength, having also been chosen by the Jersey States as the sole supplier of a custodial tenancy deposit protection scheme on the island, which launched earlier this month.”1
At present, My Deposits runs an insurance-based scheme, alongside the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, which will also begin offering a custodial service in April 2016. The Deposit Protection Service (DPS) offers both types of protection at present.
