The statement comes five years after it has become a legal requirement to protect tenants’ deposits in the private rental market.
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme now forecasts that the number of authorised deposit protection schemes may increase both this year and again in 2016.
Harriott said: “No longer is it automatically believed that private sector landlords will regard the deposits they hold as part of the rent, nor that tenants will withhold the last rent payments for fear of not getting their deposits back.
“And, both landlords and agents have become much better at managing disputes at the end of a tenancy.”
Harriott cited the low level of tenancy deposit disputes of around only 1% over the last five years as evidence of this.
Today the English Housing survey suggested some 2.75m households had assured shorthold tenancies and the latest Communities and Local Government statistics showed that some 2.36m deposits are now safeguarded.
Harriott added that this year the two existing insured tenancy deposit protection schemes, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and mydeposits were bidding to renew their contracts with government and it is possible that additional schemes will be authorised.
He said: “These schemes will compete on both quality and price and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme prides itself on being value for money, not-for-profit and the only deposit scheme to be awarded the government’s own customer service excellence award.”
