Changes to our deposit scheme
We are making a change to the deposit scheme we are using.
Deposit returns come with particular challenges for letting agents. Like most agents we no longer hold deposit money – it is lodged with a government authorised deposit scheme.
Historically (pre 2007, when the Housing Act 2004 took effect) there were two ways for agents to hold tenant deposits – “as agent” or “as stakeholder”. Stakeholder was the fairest way as it meant you had to get all parties to agree before releasing the deposit. This method has carried over to the deposit schemes, so effectively the DPS, TDS, and MyDeposits all act as stakeholder, and we as agents act as a go-between for all parties to get an agreement of deposit payments.
Due to the time consuming and fragmented nature of deposit returns, especially with having to get agreement of all parties, we are moving to a new system to streamline this process.
This system is called The Depository, and is set to transform the way we process deposit returns. We will still need to get agreement of all parties, but it offers a single platform that can be used for the negotiation, and provides automation through the entire process, from doing checkouts, feeding the results into The Depository, raising work orders in our management system for damage or repairs automatically, through to agreement of charges and the automated disbursement of the deposit through the deposit scheme to the respective parties.
This end to end integration will save considerable time, and brings many other time saving benefits (including – most importantly from our tenants point of view – getting deposits processed fairly and returned as quickly as possible).
The first stage to this integration will be moving deposit schemes, as The Depository currently only works with TDS.
A small number of clients will be involved in our initial rollout of The Depository – you will be contacted if you are on this list.
If you have any questions please contact us via https://topproperty-services.com/contact-us/
