A Chiswick couple are urging people to sign up to a charity's scheme to protect tenants' deposits after they fought a year long battle to have theirs returned.

Becky Hirst, 28, is urging new tenants to join homeless charity Shelter's red envelope scheme, launched today, which sets out landlords' obligations under The Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme, which comes into effect on April 6.

Becky and her partner, Dan Procter, moved into a flat in Chiswick High Road in 2005. They lived there for a year but when they moved out they only received £65 of the £1,100 deposit they were expecting as the rest of the cash had been deducted by their landlord for redecoration.

The pair's letting agent, Foxtons, said it could not help as the money had already been paid out.

Rather than being put off the couple decided to do their own detective work, traced the landlord and finally got the cash back in January after winning their case in the small claims court.

According to a survey by Shelter more than three-quarters of all tenants who had money withheld claimed it was retained by their landlords unfairly.

The charity estimated the total amount held unfairly by landlords had reached more than £1billion.

Becky said: "We felt extremely angry with our agents, as they had been trusted with holding our deposit for the year and had paid it to the landlord without checking with us. We felt we had a case against the estate agents, but it felt too much of a challenge to take legal action against such a large company. At the time, we felt like a very isolated case, however since then we have heard of so many others who have experienced this."

She added: "If we weren't a couple, and weren't able to motivate each other, I think we might have given up.

"I totally support Shelter's scheme. Deposits can equal a lot of money, and for some people, if their deposit is held, it can result in leaving them homeless."

Adam Sampson, chief executive of Shelter, said: "Shelter helps thousands of people each year with deposit problems and has campaigned for many years to get tenancy deposit protection introduced. This money represents a sizeable chunk of cash for many tenants and losing it unfairly not only leaves thousands of people out of pocket, but can lead to homelessness.

"The tenancy deposit protection schemes provide a vital safety net for both tenants and responsible landlords, making the private rental sector more professional and fairer for everyone."

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