Government figures reveal half a million tenancy deposits held in London

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
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2 Comments

  1. ajayjagota75

    So in conclusion – what a waste of time money and resources using cash deposits – nationally there is £3.5 billion held in these schemes!

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  2. depositdispute35

    @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)

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