The Deposit Protection Service (DPS) is a decade of custodial deposit protection today.

To help provide security and peace of mind to both landlords and renters during the course of tenancies, the government included measures in the 2004 Housing Act that ensured that deposits must be protected by a third-party.

When the legislation was implemented on 6 April 2007, the DPS offered England and Wales’ only custodial scheme – where deposits are securely looked after rather than retained by a landlord – and over the last 10 years has protected over 4.9 million deposits.

Julian Foster, managing director at the DPS, said: “Over the last decade, millions of landlords and tenants have relied on us as the UK’s longest-running custodial scheme for security, peace of mind and the guarantee of fairness when tenancies come to an end.

“This accomplishment is largely down to the hard work and great skills of the diverse team we have, whether it’s our highly-rated contact centre, our adjudicators or our education and training teams.

“The next decade promises to be even more exciting, with digital developments promising an even easier and rewarding process for letting agents, landlords and tenants.”