More than £500,000 of tenant deposits are lying unclaimed in Scotland, one of the biggest tenancy deposit protection schemes in the country claims.

The figures come from SafeDeposits Scotland, a spin-off from England’s Tenancy Deposit Scheme,  which represents 60% of the rental market north of the border.

Edinburgh City has the most unclaimed deposits at 919, worth £219,559, while Glasgow City has 417 deposits unclaimed, worth £113,422.

There are 246 deposits left over in Aberdeen City worth £73,023 and 245 in Fife at £100,448.

The last of the top five is made up of 198 in Dundee, worth £43,617.

There are three deposit schemes in the country, SafeDeposits Scotland, MydepositsScotland and the Letting Protection Service Scotland. All are custodial and at the end of the tenancy the landlord typically needs to tell the scheme of any deductions before the deposit is returned, which a tenant may then dispute.

If the landlord doesn’t make any application the tenant can also apply.

SafeDeposits Scotland suggested some tenants may have forgotten about the deposit or assumed they simply didn’t have any left to reclaim due to cleaning or damage charges.

It said: “Most tenants claim their deposits back after they move out, but, as hard as it is to believe, a surprising number don’t.

“We can only speculate on why some people don’t claim their deposit back. Some people may simply forget, some may have left some cleaning or damage so don’t think they’re going to get any back, and others might think it’s too much hassle.

“However, with a staggering £692,000 unclaimed across Scotland, we’re urging tenants to complete the repayment steps to claim their deposits back.”

This appears to be a regular problem in Scotland as previous EYE stories have revealed, but south of the border the Deposit Protection Service has previously said 0.2% of deposits lie unclaimed.

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) in England and Wales told EYE there have been 219 unclaimed payments as of the end of September totalling £99,561 since launching its custodial side in 2016. This accounts for 0.385% of the value of the scheme.

£1m worth of unclaimed tenants’ deposits could be handed over to Crown