A HOUSING CHARITY has brought a bill to Leinster House that would see deposits lodged with an independent third party rather than the landlord.

The bill, entitled the Deposit Protection Scheme Bill (DPS Bill), would establish a third-party custodial model at no extra cost to tenants or landlords that would keep the deposit for the duration of a tenant’s occupation of a property.

Once the tenancy is over, the deposit would be returned to the tenant – unless the landlord has claimed evidenced expenses.

National housing charity Threshold presented a draft bill for the establishment of a DPS to TDs and Senators in Leinster House today.

Threshold says that the campaign to bring this forward has been widely supported. Latest Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) data shows that 94% of deposit retention disputes in 2021 showed the landlord acting unlawfully.

More renters lodged RTB disputes seeking the return of their deposit in 2024 than those disputing notices of termination.

The campaign is being run in collaboration with a number of student unions. The charity collected over 1,000 signatures supporting the scheme from college campuses during Renters’ Rights days.

Threshold’s National Advocacy Manager Ann-Marie O’Reilly said that the scheme, which is already in place in a number of other countries, such as the UK, would “remove stress and uncertainty for renters and landlords alike”.

Vice President for Campaigns at the Union of Students Ireland (USI), Nathan Murphy, said that students are among the most vulnerable renters as it is often their first time renting.

He said that every year students have large sums of money in deposits withheld by landlords and management companies, and that the DPS Bill would bring “much needed protection” for student renters.