Chestnut Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 Does anyone have a view on the preferred deposit scheme for Landlord with single tenancy? I will shortly need to use the scheme for first time, as my previous tenant started before the scheme came in to effect. I have heard that: 1) Custodial scheme is free but may be slow to recover deposit for return at end of tenancy. How long? 2) Insurance scheme costs a fee and may be preferable for multiple tenancy landlords. What cost? What is opinion of those who have used it over last year or so since introduction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 insurance costs around £60 + £30 per dep and is the ONLY way IMHO !!!! The Rodent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted June 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 Rodent, Why don't you rate the custodial scheme? It would help me to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CH1 Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 I have heard that: 1) Custodial scheme is free but may be slow to recover deposit for return at end of tenancy. How long? It's the first time I've used the custodial scheme -its easy to set up and in theory you should get the deposit back within 10 days if there are no problems in requesting it between you and T, i.e both of you act quickly. I recently requested a deposit repayment on 9 June but my T had problems getting onto site for over a week and when they did get on site they entered the wrong amount so deposit protection agency had to reset the request and we started all over after a couple of e-mails. Finally the payment is being processed so technically deposit should be returned within 3 working days.The request for repayment can be done by phone also. In my limited experience of this scheme the problems are more technical on site with Users not entering correct details or ID's but once both parties enter correct data the request is usually carried out within a week not 3 weeks like in my case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenners Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 Of course - I totally disagree with Rodent .... (nothing really new there though) ..... The custodial scheme is the only sensible solution for a landlord with ONE property. Why incur the expense of joining the TDS insurance based scheme - £90 - just to be able to hold onto a few hundred pounds security deposit. If you have a number of properties then the TDS scheme is better because it only costs an additional £30 for each property that you add. Good luck, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted June 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 Mark, Thanks. Much as I thought. The insurance scheme sounds more geared to those of you Ls with big portfolios. My concern now is how easy it is for both parties to contact custodial scheme when the time comes. Is it only an internet system? That may be easy for me, but perhaps not for the tenant. I need to do some homework to find out just how it works. More comments welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 insurance costs around £60 + £30 per dep and is the ONLY way IMHO !!!! The Rodent Simple ... I hold upto 35k in bonds ..that is a lot of money NOT to be in complete control of ! there are many situations ....tenants going awol early for one (plus various other problem situations ..which could have turned into a complete nightmare )..it is infinitely easier to sort the problem "in house" rather than involving third parties... Also i have 35K at my disposal for 6-12 months ...and as a business person i use the opportunity to profit from this position !!!! (from a financially covered position) I will, however agree with Mark that on single prop ....it may not be worth your while to pay £60 set up costs ....altho this maybe a one off as second year renewal was free !!!! The Rodent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenners Posted June 28, 2008 Report Share Posted June 28, 2008 So Rodent and Trenners do agree ! ONE PROPERTY = Custodial Scheme MULTIPLE PROPERTIES = TDS I totally agree (with rodent) that holding £35K is more cash generative and delivers more control with TDS but with ONE DEPOSIT it reallu is not worth the trouble and expense of joining and using custodial is much better. With regard to Internet access etc - I know that all scheme have Internet interfaces for those web savvy landlords / tenants but I am also 100% sure that they have "paper based" registration and release processes that can be accessed via "snail mail". Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted June 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2008 Looking at the terms on the Custodial scheme DPS website (which I note has a paper-snailmail option) It states that recovery should be within 10 days of DPS receipt of joint L & T repayment agreement. But is this L&T repayment agreement the pitfall? If no agreement is reached it appears that one either has to resort to a judge (money?) to get one (which T could likely ignore) and/or lose all the deposit into the Govs coffers. Insurance may yet be more attractive? Reading the DT it seems there may be offers of reduced premiums about which bring the costs below the possible interest on deposits retained by the Landlord. Any more thoughts and experiences out there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CH1 Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 Looking at the terms on the Custodial scheme DPS website (which I note has a paper-snailmail option) It states that recovery should be within 10 days of DPS receipt of joint L & T repayment agreement. But is this L&T repayment agreement the pitfall? If no agreement is reached it appears that one either has to resort to a judge (money?) to get one (which T could likely ignore) and/or lose all the deposit into the Govs coffers. Insurance may yet be more attractive? Reading the DT it seems there may be offers of reduced premiums about which bring the costs below the possible interest on deposits retained by the Landlord. Any more thoughts and experiences out there? As mentioned earlier in thread I have recent experience of using the custodial scheme, I requested repayment on 9 June, but my tenant was busy and then later had technical issues with website so for at least a week after I requested the repaymeht I had a message "awaiting tenant response" on my account. After I contacted T and explained what to do and contacted DPS they helped T and me out and we both entered the same figures on site. Then DPS sent the payment -the date it reached me was 1 July. That was within 10 days of me and T both requesting the same amounts correctly, if T enters the wrong amount then it throws the system out and it calls it a dispute (which happened to me as T entered full amont of deposit to be returned when we had both mutually agreed to retain a small sum. Though one quick phone call to DPS can sort that out. Where I can't offer feedback is when both Landlord and T disagree I don't know how long the disputes take to resolve, as my dispute was a technical error only, as T made an error. The repayment can be done over the phone if both you and T have repayment ID's with you as far as I'm aware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heebs Posted July 8, 2008 Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 i have used the free dps and the mydeposit insurance scheme....the dps is free...send deposit certificates direct to tenant without landlord having to do so..is less hassle as no fees etc..and at end of tenancy i simply entered the repayment id and the dps generated the deposit directly into my account within 2 days..with interest earned... the insurance scheme costs £58-60 plus £30 to secure deposit...it as a high rate 0870 helpline which i had to use as it took my annual fee but once i was a member the website kept crashing and casung errors when i tried to secure the deposit which caused me stress as LL only have 14 days to do this.. Also they have a very very fussy system where you..the LL have to print certificates for the tenants..and get the tenants to sign and you to sign their copy and you have to give them a copy of the rules handbook blah di blah di blah.... the dps is free...site is robust..no errors...and they handle everything..you dont have to give your tenants anything..ie paperwork etc.,,and they didnt take 10 days to pay..maybe they state that as the maximum time..i got my money within 2 days transferred direct into my bank and i didnt have to pick up the phone once...it was all online and automated and efficient.. Which one you take...its your decision..interest wise..the insurance scheme may work out a little more profitable (although alot more fuss and bother )...only if you have huge amounts of deposits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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