Iguarantee, the alternative to tenancy deposit protection
schemes, has already signed up its first letting agent
associate.
Using the revolutionary no deposit Tenant
Guarantee Scheme launched last week, the Barry firm
Just4Let will
advertise lettings with no deposit, signing up all tenants
to the scheme which brings rent guarantee protection,
landlords’ contents and legal fees insurance cover.
‘When we launched the scheme we thought that it
would be largely private landlords and their tenants
who would be attracted by the scheme’, said Tenant
Guarantee Scheme director Karl Hopkins. ‘As it
turns out we have been inundated with calls from agents
who are very unhappy indeed about the versions of deposit
protection open to them. They are worried both about
the cost and the administrative side of the schemes.
Some have even said the deposit protection schemes are
bound to fail in the end and that the sort of insurance
and guarantee cover we are offering will become the norm’.
The Tenant Guarantee Scheme means members
automatically provide landlords with up to three months
rent guarantee,
plus landlords’ contents cover equivalent to one
month’s rent, plus legal fees cover of £1,000.
Landlords and agents gain because the scheme offers
them better protection than a deposit and means they
do not have to become involved in cumbersome deposit
protection schemes. Tenants gain because using the scheme
they can rent property without having to pay deposit.
And, by being included in the Tenant Guarantee Scheme
register, their credentials as responsible tenants are
acknowledged.
‘
Now we have seen how many letting agents are struggling
with the new deposit protection requirements we are
expecting many more firms to sign up to our associate
programme’, said Hopkins.
