University students protected from rogue landlords

Housing deposits represent major outlay for students, particularly as student rents have gone up by 18% in the last four years. Yet as the academic year is about to start, students are at risk of losing money to unprofessional landlords.

The cost of rented student accommodation ranges from about £40 a week in Middlesbrough to £102 a week in London, with the national average sitting at £61.64. Multiply those figures by four to estimate the cost of a deposit and you get a big chunk of money for a cash-strapped student to risk losing.

Students are being advised to take advantage of a Government-approved scheme designed to protect their deposits. mydeposits.co.uk was set up last year. Under this scheme, landlords must register every deposit they take within 14 days or they will face a court fine. The scheme also offers an impartial dispute resolution service to tenants, landlords and letting agencies alike should disagreements arise over how much money needs to be returned at the end of a tenancy.

In its first year of operation (April 2007-March 2008), the scheme safeguarded 200,000 individual tenants’ deposits, worth £177 million. During the same period there were just 341 disputes, with tenants favoured in 86% of cases. Nearly half those tenants had their full deposits returned. Just 11% of disputes resulted in landlords or letting agencies being allowed to keep deposits.

Students perhaps have more to lose than many if their deposits are unprotected. The scheme’s chairman David Salusbury has this advice for them: “It is important for students to ask their new landlord where their cash is and with whom it is being protected.

“The overwhelming majority of tenancies have always ended amicably but mandatory tenancy deposit protection is now just part and parcel of a landlord’s legal responsibilities.”