Serious concerns have been raised throughout the lettings market since government abandoned the national Tenancy Deposit Scheme last year. The Scheme was to implement speedy and efficient resolution, settlement of deposit disputes and the rapid return of disputed deposit monies.

Now, letting agents who are members of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, ARLA, are signing up fast for the Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Regulated Agents (TDSRA). This has been launched at the instigation of ARLA to meet the mounting demand for a solution to the deposit problem from both the professional bodies in the lettings industry and representative organisations for tenants and consumers.

Under the scheme, when the letting agent cannot negotiate a settlement between landlord and tenant, the details of the dispute, along with the full amount of the deposit in dispute, will be sent to the Independent Case Examiner for expert, third party adjudication and a decision on the proper apportionment of the deposit.

This guarantees the return of tenants' deposits that are due, pays the landlord monies that may be owed and removes the burden from letting agents of having to resolve irreconcilable differences of opinion between landlord and tenant.

Already, by the end of the week following ARLA's Annual Conference (3rd February), where the outline of the scheme was first publicised, over 250 ARLA member letting offices had been signed up for the replacement scheme. Many more have indicated that they will follow before the official launch date of 1st May 2004.

For landlords and tenants, the scheme will do away with much of the mutual suspicion that builds up towards the end of a tenancy. Frequently this leads to the last month's rent being withheld for fear of the landlord refusing to return a deposit. The fact that a deposit dispute adjudication will be made by an impartial third party will ensure that both landlord and tenant get a fair and just result.

The Independent Case Examiner for the new Scheme, who will oversee it, is Lawrence Greenberg, who was previously Director of the original government-backed Tenancy Deposit Scheme. A network of specially trained adjudicators, many of them drawn from The Rent Service - an executive agency of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, ODPM, all with a variety of skills and areas of expertise, will assess the disputes.
The Independent Case Examiner, operating like an ombudsman, will then make his decision within ten working days and the deposit will be distributed no more than five days after that.

The Scheme, first publicised at the ARLA Annual Conference in London last week, has already signed up ARLA agents from around the country.
These agents include national chains, regional multiples and specialist independents and, with 250 offices already signed, there is a good chance that the ambitious target of signing up over 700 ARLA member offices - half the membership - can be reached.

Adrian Turner, Chief Executive of ARLA, said: "The scheme is right for the industry and right for landlords, tenants and agents. It reinforces ARLA’s commitment to promoting the highest standards of good practice in the Private Rented Sector. Yet again, we are demonstrating our ability and desire to uphold the principles of self-regulation instead of waiting for heavy-handed legislation imposed on the private rental sector by government.

"Independent, expert, third party adjudication guarantees the return of tenants' deposits that are due, pays the landlord any money that might be owed and removes the burden from the letting agent of having to resolve irreconcilable differences of opinion between landlord and tenant. For those agents and consumers who make use of it, the new Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Regulated Agents should help to bring peace of mind all round," Adrian Turner added.