Millions of pounds of unclaimed deposits are returned

More than £3m of unclaimed tenant deposits have been returned since last year, according to The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS).

This substantial reduction in unclaimed deposits is testament to the scheme’s new text messaging service says Director Kevin Firth: “We introduced a text messaging service to help remind users to re-claim their deposit at the end of their tenancy, a tactic that has so far helped £3m of unclaimed funds find its way back to its rightful owners. 

“As well as the introduction of SMS, we have worked hard to track the addresses and phone numbers of tenants; and informed all existing tenants that these details must be kept up to date so it’s easier to get in touch with them if money is unclaimed at the end of the tenancy.”

Despite an impressive £3m being returned, there remains £2m that is yet to be claimed and The DPS is appealing to tenants to step forward and re-claim these deposits.

“There is still a significant amount of unclaimed monies and tenants are missing out on money which is rightfully theirs. We are committed to repaying deposits as quickly as possible – and text message notification has helped enormously with this challenge but unfortunately some tenants are still not keeping their contact details up to date, putting their deposit in limbo,” explained Mr Firth. 

“As soon as we have the relevant information we can refund the deposit, which I am sure will help tenants pay for their Christmas!”

The DPS now protects nearly 670,000 UK deposits. 4,627 are waiting for the response of the lead tenants before they can be repaid.