'Landlords treat us students like we're dumb kids'

> But students say this requirement is often ignored or the procedure for challenging a decision leads to a long delay - during which time their entire deposit is withheld- and many challenges end with them losing out anyway.

I doubt very much that the requirement to 'protect' the deposit in an approved scheme is often ignored, especially by letting agencies. If it is then the penalty is that the tenant cannot be evicted in most cases, and the landlord may also have to pay up to 3x the deposit's value to the tenant as penalty.

Moreover, the adjudicators of these schemes are thorough and professionals and it is for the landlord to prove he is entitled to deductions, so if "many challenges end with them [students] losing out anyway" it does mean that students are indeed often in the wrong.