The chief executive of the Tenancy Deposit Service says the burgeoning number of deposit alternative services may represent good news for landlords, but possibly less so for tenants.

Steve Harriott says such schemes are effectively just an insurance premium, and he worries that some tenants may believe that this effectively lifts any responsibility from them for paying for damage or unfair levels of wear and tear on a property. 

In a video interview with Landlord Today’s Lee Dahill, Harriott says that some deposit alternative schemes offer as much as 10 weeks’ rent for landlords in the event of a problem. “That’s great for landlords, but do the tenants know that?”

He says that if the damage at the end of a tenancy was equivalent to 10 weeks rent, the landlord will pursue that through the deposit alternative guarantee; however, if the tenant had paid a conventional upfront deposit of five weeks, the landlord probably wouldn’t have taken the tenant to court to pursue the rest.

It’s an interesting five minute interview, and you can see it below.

To view this Property Podcast Today in full, click here.