New measures to protect tenancy deposits will be added to the Housing Bill, it was announced by the government yesterday.

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) welcomed the move and the Citizens Advice also hailed the announcement as a major breakthrough in signalling an end to rogue practices being tolerated in the private rented sector.

ARLA believes that there is well over £1 billion in deposits held in the Private Rented Sector that are not held by regulated agents.

ARLA’s own Tenancy Deposit Scheme went live just a few weeks ago. This breakthrough scheme, which replaces the scheme abandoned by government last summer, went live on May 1st and more than 300 ARLA members are already signed up.

ARLA expects that the other two professional bodies; the RICS and the NAEA will join their scheme in the very near future. This is because it will greatly simplify the task of both agent and landlord as well as reassuring tenants that there will always be a fair deal through independent adjudication when they use agents signed up to TDSRA.

David Harker, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, which has campaigned for a statutory deposit scheme for more than 10 years, warmly welcomed the proposed amendment to the Housing Bill.

“We are absolutely delighted that the Government has recognised that tenants deserve the assurance that their deposit is held safely and they are no longer at risk of losing substantial sums of money simply because rogue landlords refuse to return it when they move out, knowing there is little they can do to recover it.”

“Statutory protection for deposits is something we have been calling for many years. We have worked with the Government all the way through on this. We now look forward to working with them on the detail of the scheme to ensure that tenants have access to dispute resolution that is fast, free and fair.”