Mydeposits.co.uk, a Government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme, estimates there could be as many as 400,000 tenancies with unprotected deposits

This figure was arrived at becuase there were 1,864,000 tenancies in England 2007-08, taken from the CLG Survey of English Housing and there are currently 1.4 million deposits under protection

Mydeposits.co.uk is also concerned that some tenants are still completely unaware tenancy deposit protection laws even exist. Many only find out their landlord should have protected their deposit when things go wrong and they can’t get their money back.

The average deposit protected is over £1,000

Eddie Hooker, chief executive, mydeposits.co.uk, said: “These figures are concerning because if a deposit is never protected