In its latest Annual Review published today, The Dispute Service has announced that it protects over £1.3bn in tenancy deposits; an increase of £100m since March 2014, and £300m more than the other providers. TDS also saw a substantial 25% increase in deposit disputes to 11,900, which as the only scheme allowing landlords to raise disputes is in part owing to a continued growth in membership.
Also operated by The Dispute Service, TDS Northern Ireland protects an astonishing three quarters of registered deposits in the region, two years in to deposit protection regulations. SafeDeposits Scotland, for which The Dispute Service provides key functions including dispute resolution, IT, and finance, is also the strong market leader holding 60% of protected deposits at the close of the last financial year.
The marked differences across the UK private rental market are also clear, with the report showing the average England and Wales deposit of £1,181 to be almost double that of Northern Ireland, where it is £592. The average deposit held by SafeDeposits Scotland is £690.
In other developments, the company continued investing its quality of service and achieved recognitions from several external accreditation schemes; the Customer Service Excellence Standard, Investor in People status, and the Complaints Management Standard (ISO 10002:2004).
TDS Northern Ireland was also recognised by the Chartered Instituted of Housing with the Chairman’s award for outstanding contribution to the private rented sector.
The TDS Charitable Foundation, launched last year to fund projects promoting education and best practice in the private rented sector, provided over £100,000 to projects in England and Wales.
Commenting on the report, Chief Executive Steve Harriott said;
“The very purpose of deposit protection has been to improve standards in the private rented sector. Our developments in outstanding service is vital to ensuring the industry sees the benefit of deposit protection, but a major milestone this year has been the funding the TDS Charitable Foundation has provided. We are in a better position than ever before to help raise the standards in the private rented sector.”
The 2014-15 Annual Review can be downloaded at https://www.tenancydepositscheme.com/annual-reports.html
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