Tenancy deposit scheme off the ground

Tuesday, 18 September 2007 12:00 AM

The roll-out of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) appears to be developing successfully as an increasing number of landlords and tenants become aware of their responsibilities.

According to the organisation responsible for its administration nearly two thirds of landlords and half of all tenants now understand their mandatory requirements.

The TDS became law on April 1st 2007.

And today two new surveys have been released by the administrator of the TDS, both of which demonstrate a substantial increase in awareness.

The first shows 90 per cent of landlords now claim to understand their responsibilities.

However, the second, among estate agents, produced slightly less optimistic results.

Estate agents believe only 63 per cent of landlords understand the government initiative, up from 54.6 per cent, whereas only half of tenants appreciate their full responsibilities, up from a third.

Yet, this does represent a substantial increase from April, achieved over the holiday season.

The results come at a time of high demand in the rental market.

Analysts Paragon finds in a recent study average rents are increasing 12.7 per cent annually, with the average property now costing £10,914 a year to rent.

And the TDS is expecting a surge in cases requiring arbitration within the next month as the first wave of six-month assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) come to an end.

However, in the long-term the need to arbitrate ASTs may slow.

"Although many tenancies are arranged for an initial six month period, industry figures show that the average length of tenancies is now 18 months," commented Lawrence Greenberg, chief executive of the TDS.

"The outcome from this would be a more gradual build-up in demand for dispute resolutions."

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