One in four tenants struggle to get their full deposit back after their tenancy has completed, according to research from Generation Rent.
In an online survey of 1,375 Generation Rent supporters, the tenant advocacy group found that 23% experienced deposit deductions they did not think were reasonable.
Of these, only one in five renters used the Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme’s dispute resolution service.
The most common reasons for this were tenants not being aware of their rights, fearing the process would take too long or believing they did not have enough evidence to do so.
Further, 18% of respondents could not dispute their claims because their landlord had broken the law by not protecting their deposit.
Generation Rent’s research also found, in addition to tenants struggling to retrieve their deposit in full, that deposits in general were a challenging amount to raise.
A quarter of respondents admitted they had had to borrow money from friends and family for deposits, with 14% resorting to credit cards or loans.
Nearly a third (32%) had used their savings with only 29% in a position to cover the amount from their current accounts.
According to freedom of Information requests by Generation Rent, the average deposit in England and Wales is £1,118 and £793 in Scotland.
Using these findings, Generation Rent is pushing for the UK to follow best practices from rental markets in other countries.
This work is being funded by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, of which Vivienne Jackson is programme manager.
“It’s clear that a deposit protection scheme is valued by people who rent in the private sector,” said Vivienne. “But it now needs to do better, to make sure renters can get the best out of deposits.
“The UK can look to examples abroad, like Australia or New Zealand, which create more certainty and security for both renters and landlords.”
