One of the suppliers in the fiercely competitive world of deposit alternatives has introduced an ‘unlocking deposits’ option.

From today, Zero Deposit says tenants can free up the cash deposit they paid when they first moved into their existing rented property and replace it with one of its guarantees. 

Tenants can take advantage of this at any stage of their tenancy, or at renewal. 

An agent using Zero Deposit – Paul Deveney, director at Acorn Group – says: “This is a great new approach and we are in the process of rolling it out to our tenants. It’s incredibly easy to promote to our landlords as it removes a lot of the traditional deposit headaches while handing them greater protection. We also like the option as it also takes away an administrative burden from the branch and hands the team time to focus on building this new revenue stream.”  

And Jon Notley – co-founder and chief executive of Zero Deposit – adds: “Our ambition is to help tenants overcome the challenges of affordability by providing them with the choice to release the cash they have tied up in existing deposits. Landlords benefit from the extra protection our product offers over a cash deposit, with everyone protected by the safeguards that come with a Financial Conduct Authority regulated product and the associated Financial Ombudsman Service and Financial Services Compensation Scheme.”

“Agents have a natural opportunity post tenant fee ban to introduce the Zero Deposit Guarantee to tenants.  But there are other major advantages for agents too: our product removes a compliance headache and provides them with a useful revenue stream.”