While interest rates are at an all-time low, the advantages of agents retaining the deposits may be outweighed by the benefits offered by custodial schemes. Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) has outlined all the ways you can benefit from protecting your tenancy deposits in their Custodial scheme.
Free to use
Perhaps the most obvious and well-known benefit of using a Custodial Scheme is that it is free to join and free to use, including dispute resolution. As the deposits are held by TDS, there are no fees to pay, which can represent significant savings over multiple deposits.
No bank charges
What may not be so obvious are the cost savings that can be found from reduced bank charges, as TDS repays the deposits at the end of the tenancy to multiple parties and absorbs those fees.
Time savings
Time is money, and TDS’ Custodial Scheme offers many unique, time-saving features. Firstly, tenants contact TDS directly, not you, which can make a big difference in how much time your admin team spends on the phone. You won’t have to deal with the process of repaying deposits or the entering of bank details. The online dashboard also streamlines workflows regarding tenant changeovers, agent to landlord transfers and deposit cap reductions.
No audit costs
Because the deposit is held in a Government-backed Custodial scheme, you won’t have any external audit costs, either.
Free dispute service
The dispute resolution process is entirely free to use and offers further time savings with the TDS’ evidence portal. The portal allows you to upload evidence into one safe place and means you can be assured TDS has received the evidence by viewing it within your TDS Custodial account at any time.
In addition to the many cost and time savings from using TDS Custodial, the scheme is also recognised for its award-winning customer service, best-in-class call, and email answering, quick dispute resolution, and easy switching process. TDS has created a full list of the benefits to reassure you that switching is quick and straight-forward and won’t affect your current working practices.
