A new BBC program is investigating the problem of missing tenancy deposits. Around £2.4 billion is held in tenancy deposit schemes. The money is handed over to landlords and letting agents by tenants at the beginning of a tenancy and then deposited in an insurance backed, government approved scheme.
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The idea is that these schemes protect the money to prevent landlords and letting agents from refusing to return it at the end of a tenancy.
BBC Tenancy Deposit Investigation
The BBC investigation centred on a letting agency based in Cornwall, which promised to protect its clients and their money. Unfortunately, this clearly didn’t happen and straight after the BBC program was broadcast, the agent’s listing disappeared from the ARLA website.
Rent reformer, Ajay Jagota, conducted his own research into the problem and found that more than £1 million disappeared from deposit protection schemes in 2016, despite the fact they are designed to protect client’s money. It seems to be a recurrent problem.
Bolton Letting Agent Convicted of Deposit Fraud
A Bolton letting agent was recently convicted of illegally retaining £130,000 of deposits paid by tenants using his agency. He was sentenced to 45 months in jail for his crime. So far, we are only two months into 2017 and £146,000 of tenant deposits have already been stolen.
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