Deposit protection price war underway

The starting gun has been fired on a deposit protection price war, according to mydeposits.co.uk. Today's announcement by The Dispute Service (TDS) of the ‘likely severity of the subscription increases', may cause concern for letting agents, but mydeposits.co.uk will offer more competitive deals for letting agents without compromising on quality.

In its statement TDS said that unless subscriptions rose, ‘the number of disputes will reach a level that is well above the resources available to the scheme'. TDS has also recently announced that every disputed deposit will be adjudicated in-house in a bid to reduce spiralling costs.

Eddie Hooker, Chief Executive, mydeposits.co.uk, said: "This latest decision by TDS will hit letting agents hard just when they don't need it. We also have to question how the decision to bring all adjudications in-house will affect tenants and landlords with the quality of adjudication they receive in dispute cases. With all disputes dealt with in-house, how can we be sure of impartiality? TDS looks as if it is trying to cut costs at the same time as increasing subscriptions - a double whammy.

"Mydeposits.co.uk continues to offer the same high levels of service, quality dispute resolution by external adjudicators, and a robust pay-as-you-go pricing structure which is standing the test of time. This will not be changing. Obviously, we are happy to hear from letting agents who feel TDS can no longer offer them the quality service they require."