There are potentially 1.1 million tenancy deposits without any protection in the UK, which could be worth as much as £1.2bn, according to the latest research by Hamilton Fraser’s deposit replacement provider, Ome.

Ome’s sister company, mydeposits, manages 25% of the total deposit protection market and its latest records revealed there are 3.5 million tenancy deposits protected across the entire UK market – equating to £3.9bn in value – meaning the average tenant is paying £1,139 for a tenancy deposit.

Ome compared these statistics with the latest English Housing Survey report, which showed there were an estimated 4.6 million tenancies in the private rental sector in 2019, leaving potentially 1.1 million tenancies that either have not had a deposit protected, do not have deposits, or are using deposit replacement products.

Co-founder of Ome, Matthew Hooker, commented: “The reality is that the private rental sector is changing, and has been changing gradually through the formal introduction of deposit protection in 2006 and the subsequent launch of the more traditional protection schemes.

“It’s impossible to tell just how many deposits are still sat unprotected in the bank accounts of either rogue landlords or agents but based on market data we can make a conservative estimate that this total value runs into the hundreds of millions of pounds.

“We’d always advise tenants to check which deposit protection scheme your agent or landlord is part of and to make sure they give you the documentation confirming the deposit is protected.”

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