The Tenancy Deposit Scheme, which banned “unregulated” agents from joining it, is now accepting agents who are not members of a professional or trade body.

The TDS, which was initially launched by ARLA as a voluntary scheme before becoming a government-approved scheme when tenancy deposit protection became mandatory in 2008, announced it would be banning “unregulated” agents a year later.

It defined “unregulated” agents as those not belong to ARLA, NAEA, RICS, NALS or the Law Society.

The TDS said at the time that it had no option because of its insurers’ requirements.

It was the only scheme to have banned “unregulated” agents.

On its website the TDS invites membership applications from ARLA, NAEA and RICS members, who pay £9.25 per tenancy, and from NALS, Law Society and UKALA members who pay £10.75.

However, it has now emerged that the TDS is accepting agents who are not members of an industry body, although currently only a handful have joined.

A spokesman told Eye: “Letting agents who are not members of a professional body can only join TDS in very special circumstances and after a rigorous individual assessment process, and we insist that they hold client money protection insurance.

“The fees for such agents are individually negotiated and are higher than normal fees.

“The majority of TDS members are members of a professional body, and this is the preferred route to membership of the scheme, with less than ten of our 2,500 agent members who are not.”