#ExpertView: Why Choose TDS?
Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) is a government approved, not-for-profit organisation that provides both Insured and Custodial tenancy deposit protection. TDS is the longest established deposit protection scheme, protecting over 1.3 million deposits across England and Wales and offering a free alternative dispute resolution service to help resolve any disputes that may arise between landlords, agents and tenants; via a professional, impartial adjudicator.
We pride ourselves on delivering outstanding customer service to all our clients, so every year we publish our data such as call answering times, email and live chat responses and the time taken to resolve disputes. Don’t just take our word for it; we have won independent recognition with a range of awards including the Customer Service Excellence Award and BSI Complaint Handling Standard.
Alongside our core focus of deposit protection and dispute resolution, we strive to educate agents, landlords and tenants about their deposit protection responsibilities and endeavour to raise standards in the private rental sector through a range of mediums such as guidance documents, publications and seminars as well as through our TDS Academy and TDS Charitable Foundation.
TDS offers membership routes to suit everyone whether you’re a landlord, letting agent, property investor or local authority. We recognise that those in the lettings industry may want different things from their deposit protection scheme and at TDS we offer deposit protection under one roof with both Insured and Custodial offerings.
Once you’ve decided that TDS is the scheme for you, the only decision is who holds the money?
TDS Custodial
TDS Custodial is an offering which was launched on 1st April 2016 where TDS holds the deposit money throughout the duration of the tenancy. This scheme is completely free for everyone and there are no membership requirements such as regulatory body status. You can join the scheme instantly online and commence lodging deposits with us straight away.
Our website and service were tailor-made utilising feedback we received from users of the existing custodial scheme. This valuable market research allowed us to develop game changing features of custodial deposit protection, streamlining the process and saving members time and money. The key features include a simple tenant changeover function, the ability to change a lead tenant and a time saving prepopulated Prescribed Information document to name just a few. For agent members, we also offer the option to add multiple users to your account and set different permissions for each individual.
The most popular and well received benefit of our Custodial scheme is a powerful online dispute portal allowing parties to upload evidence and review what’s been submitted. No-one enjoys dealing with the administration involved in a dispute, but with our portal and Deductions Template guiding you through the process, it’s just one more way we are saving you crucial time.
TDS Insured
It’s not just our TDS Custodial members who benefit from the online dispute portal, the TDS Insured scheme also utilises the same useful portal to help make disputes simpler as well as being the only scheme that allows all three parties to raise and respond to a dispute.
Under the Insured scheme, the agent or landlord holds the deposit money and pays us a premium to protect the deposit. The price you pay per tenancy can depend on a range of things from regulatory body membership to rewards for members with low dispute referrals; you could pay as little as £4.10 per tenancy. We also understand that our members have individual needs when it comes to payment and offer flexibility with subscriptions and invoices.
The TDS system works with a range of third party software providers such as CFP allowing time saving data imports of all your tenancy deposit data. It also gives members access to a range of different data exports for reconciliation purposes.
Whether you’re just starting to take deposits, already using us for some but not all of your tenancies or looking to switch from your existing provider in full – don’t hesitate to contact our Business Development team today on membership@tenancydepositscheme.com or call us on 0300 037 1001.
About the author:
Kelly Wallace has been part of The Tenancy Deposit Scheme for four years, initially within the Dispute Resolution team, progressing to a central role within the Customer Relations department and now the Senior Business Development Executive. Kelly’s focus within TDS is membership, business development and growth; this encompasses all aspects of new business across both the Insured and Custodial schemes.
About TDS:
Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) is a government approved scheme for the protection of tenancy deposits; TDS offers both Insured and Custodial protection and also provides fair adjudication for disputes that arise over the tenancy deposits that we protect.
We provide invaluable training in tenancy deposit protection and disputes for agents and landlords through the TDS Academy as well as joining with MOL to provide the Technical Award in Residential Tenancy Deposits.
TDS Insured Scheme: where a TDS member can hold the tenancy deposits as stakeholder during the term of the tenancy.
TDS Custodial Scheme: where TDS hold the deposit for the duration of the tenancy.
TDS Academy: TDS provides property professionals with invaluable training in tenancy deposit protection and tenancy deposit disputes.
TDS can only comment on the process for our scheme, other deposit protection schemes may have a different process/require different steps. Content is correct at the time of writing.