New research reveals three-quarters of young tenants have lost part of their deposits for minor maintenance issues. Dick & Dom are running a new campaign which aims to help renters tackle easy DIY jobs before moving out.
00:00Almost everyone has lost some money on a deposit when renting, but there is an easy way to prevent this.
00:06With Dick and Dom running a campaign highlighting how the latest in tech can save you from losing money on your deposit.
00:13So, I spoke to them to find out more about the scale of the problem and what can be done to help.
00:19Well, yeah, we found out that over 70% of young renters between 18 and 34 years old lose between £500 and £1,000 of their deposit
00:29for not fixing minor issues, which could just be anything from like a nail hole in a wall to a dirty oven.
00:35And these things could take you five minutes to fix, but a lot of people don't, and then they just lose their cash.
00:40Well, it was just surprising how such small jobs that are actually relatively easy to accomplish yourself are being left
00:48and that renters are choosing to lose hundreds of pounds rather than just give these little jobs a go.
00:56Now, granted, DIY isn't for everybody.
00:58It's, you know, almost even a dying ass, I think.
01:02I think, you know, generations ago, mums and dads just knew how to do it.
01:06You know, you used to get a family member around.
01:07They would know what to do.
01:09Whereas now that's kind of less so.
01:11However, Google have got a great AI tool in Gemini and in your phone.
01:16It's all built in.
01:17You can just take a photograph of the scratch on the table that may have appeared during your tenancy there.
01:23Or like, let's say, the dirty oven or, let's say, a nail hole in the wall.
01:27And this incredible tool will actually tell you what materials you need, where to get them locally, how to do it, and how long the job's going to take.
01:38Tell us more, I suppose, about the campaign that you're running.
01:42Well, yeah, we put a couple of videos up on our social media, on our Instagram at the moment.
01:46It shows how simple these things can be to fix.
01:49I think one of them, we fill a hole in a wall, which took us five minutes.
01:53Another one, we clean out a dirty oven.
01:55Yeah, the scratch on the table as well.
01:57And these things literally did take us moments of time, and they were fixed, and we got our deposit back.
02:03The interesting thing is, though, me and Dom used to rent flats together in real life, and we lost deposits for these little fixes that we should have done, and we could have kept our cash.
02:14Maybe know-how has declined among younger people compared to older generations in how to do DIY.
02:20It's funny, I think hand-me-down know-how has diminished in terms of as generations are getting on, the older generation is knowing they know less and less and less, because we have got a tendency to get people to do things for us these days, whether it be shopping through Amazon, deliveries, people to do the gardening for you.
02:41Whereas years ago, generally families did do a lot of jobs themselves, so the know-how from generations is getting less, but the information's all there.
02:49It's all there on the internet.
02:51You know, I do a lot of DIY myself, and I learn a lot from online, you know, whether that be social media, whether that be YouTube, Googling things, whatever the case may be.
03:03I learn a lot from just going online and then educating myself.
03:06So what would you really like the main takeaway for them to be?
03:09Have a go.
03:10Be like me.
03:11You know, don't go, I can't do DIY.
03:13It's impossible.
03:14I can't fix that.
03:16Have a go.
03:16It's easier than you think.
03:18These tiny little problems that need solutions can be fixed so easily, and you'll save a lot of money in your deposit.
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