Private rented properties and tenancy deposit protection scheme statistics: FOI release

Information requested

1. The total number of private rented properties on the Scottish Landlord Register on 31 March 2024.

2. The total number of deposits protected by each government-accredited tenancy deposit protection scheme on 31 March 2024.

3. The total value of deposits protected by each government-accredited tenancy deposit protection scheme on 31 March 2024.

4. The number of deposits a) submitted for protection and b) released from protection under each government-accredited tenancy deposit protection scheme in the year to 31 March 2024.

5. The number of disputes adjudicated by each government-accredited tenancy deposit protection scheme in the year to 31 March 2024.

Response

I enclose a record of some of the information you requested.

1. The total number of private rental properties on the Landlord Register at 31 March 2024 was 346,816.

The Landlord Registration System is an administrative system used to deliver on Scottish Ministers’ obligations to manage the registration of landlords and rental properties. It has not been designed to produce robust statistical figures on the sector.

Local authorities are responsible for the administration and enforcement of landlord registration, and are the data controllers of the information on the landlord registration IT system for landlords in their area. The Scottish Government receives aggregate information extracted from the system at the end of each month, including on the total number of active registrations and the number of properties
that these relate to.

2. The table below provides the total number of deposits protected by each tenancy deposit scheme on 31 March 2024
and

3. The total value of deposits protected by each tenancy deposit scheme on 31 March 2024.

Tenancy Deposit Scheme	Total number of deposits protected on 31 March 2024	Total value of deposits protected on 31 March 2024
Letting Protection Service Scotland	24,709	28,977,455
MyDeposits Scotland	70,010	£38,061,594
SafeDeposits Scotland	169,066	£142,051,996
Total	263,785	£209,091,045

4. The table below provides the number of deposits a) submitted for protection and b) released from protection for each tenancy deposit scheme in the year from 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024.

Tenancy Deposit Scheme	Submitted for protection	Released from protection
Letting Protection Service Scotland	11,855	19,964
MyDeposits Scotland	18,814	18,738
SafeDeposits Scotland	64,505	56,517
Total	95,174	95,219

5. The number of disputes adjudicated by SafeDeposits Scotland in the year to 31 March 2024 is 3,835.

With regards to Letting Protection Service Scotland and MyDeposits Scotland, the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested, as the two tenancy deposit schemes have not yet provided this information to us.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested in relation to this part of your request.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.