Tenancy Deposit Protection

The landlord must give the tenant 'prescribed information' about the scheme within 30 days. Disputes about returning the deposit at end of tenancy are resolved by the scheme's free Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). The tenant can sue in the County Court for the penalty (1-3x deposit at the court's discretion) if protection fails, and can claim the deposit back. Tenant Fees Act 2019 caps the deposit at 5 weeks' rent (6 weeks if annual rent over £50,000).

In practice, protection and prescribed information are two separate duties and landlords fail the second far more often than the first. The prescribed information tells you which scheme holds the money, the scheme's contact details, how to get the deposit back, and what to do if there is a dispute. A landlord who paid the money into a scheme on time but never gave you that information is still in breach and still exposed to the penalty.

Worked example: Leah pays a deposit of £900 at the start of her tenancy. Two years later her landlord proposes to keep £600 for cleaning and a scuffed wall. Leah checks the three schemes using her tenancy details and finds the deposit was protected six weeks after she paid it, and that she never received prescribed information. She raises the deposit dispute through the scheme's free adjudication, submitting her check-in inventory, dated photographs from move-in and move-out, and the tenancy agreement. The adjudicator allows a small deduction for cleaning but rejects the wall claim as fair wear and tear. Separately, Leah brings a county court claim for the protection penalty, which the court assesses between one and three times the deposit.

The pitfalls are mostly about evidence and timing. Adjudication is free but the burden is on the landlord to justify deductions, so a landlord with no check-in inventory usually loses. Betterment is not allowed: a landlord cannot charge you for a brand-new carpet to replace a worn one. Deposit penalty claims can generally be brought even after the tenancy has ended, but do not wait — limitation applies. And the deposit cap is separate from the protection rules; a landlord who took more than the permitted maximum has taken a prohibited payment and must repay the excess.

Deposit protection sits alongside the Tenant Fees Act 2019, which caps what can be taken, and applies to every assured shorthold tenancy converted by the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Read our guides to rental deposits and getting your deposit back before you move out.