The comparison website (ComparetheMarket) claims that over 1.5m tenants know their landlord has not placed their deposits into a government-backed deposit protection scheme. 

The survey conducted amongst 1,000 UK adult private tenants, claims that despite the legal obligation for landlords to put deposits into schemes such as the MyDesposits and the DPS, many tenants say they know this has not been done.

Meanwhile a fifth of tenants claim that they do not have a contract with their landlord, while a similar proportion claim to have had money taken from their deposit when leaving a property.

1.5 Million?!

The research also suggests that some landlords can be slow to respond to requests made by tenants, with one third reporting that they need to chase their landlord when a problem requires fixing. A further 12 per cent claim that they need to make repeated requests before receiving a response.

Almost 10 per cent say that it can take between a fortnight and a month for an issue at their property to be resolved.