Only a tiny fraction of tenancy deposit money is being unclaimed, the Deposit Protection Service has said.

The DPS, which offers a custodial service that sees money physically banked, said that just 0.2% of deposit money has been unclaimed in two years.

Julian Foster, DPS managing director, said: “In England and Wales there is no deadline by which tenancy deposits must be claimed.

“As a result, the DPS looks after the funds indefinitely, ready to respond to any claim and repay any monies in a matter of days.

“However, because of the communications and repayment systems that we have in place, the actual value of unclaimed deposits remains very low.

“At the last count less than 0.2% of the more than £1bn of deposits we protect had been unclaimed for more than two years.

“We also run publicity campaigns to remind people to participate in the Joint Deposit Repayment process and to get in touch if they think their deposit is still with us.

“The DPS custodial scheme is a free service to both landlord and tenant and is paid for from the interest generated while we protect deposits.”