Deposits and Fees in Wales: What a Landlord Can Charge

The Renting Homes (Fees, Discrimination etc.) (Wales) Act 2019 — retitled from the "Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019" by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 — works on a permitted-payments model. Schedule 1 to the Act lists the specific payments a landlord or letting agent is allowed to require from a contract-holder. Any payment that is not on that list is a prohibited payment.

Under section 2 of the Act, it is a criminal offence for a landlord to require a contract-holder, or someone acting on their behalf, to make a prohibited payment. This applies whatever the payment is called — what matters is whether it appears on the Schedule 1 list, not what it is labelled.

Schedule 1 paragraph 1 confirms that rent is a permitted payment, and paragraph 2(1) confirms that "a payment of a security deposit is a permitted payment". Holding deposits are also permitted, subject to the cap described below.

A security deposit is a permitted payment in Wales under Schedule 1 paragraph 2(1) of the 2019 Act. Unlike England, Wales does not set any maximum amount for a security deposit. England's Tenant Fees Act 2019 caps a security deposit at five or six weeks' rent, depending on the annual rent — but there is no equivalent cap anywhere in the Renting Homes (Fees, Discrimination etc.) (Wales) Act 2019.

This is an important difference to be aware of. A contract-holder in Wales who assumes the English deposit cap applies to them may wrongly conclude that a landlord's deposit request is unlawful when it is not — a landlord in Wales asking for a deposit above the English cap is not, on that basis alone, doing anything unlawful under this Act.

If a deposit amount asked of you seems disproportionate, that is still worth raising with your landlord or getting advice on — but it is not, by itself, a breach of the fees legislation in the way an equivalent amount would be in England. For how deposit protection works for your occupation contract, see gov.wales or ask Citizens Advice.

A holding deposit — sometimes called a reservation fee — is a permitted payment under Schedule 1, but it is capped. Under Schedule 1 paragraph 4(c), a holding deposit must not "exceed an amount equivalent to one week's rent under the contract". Under paragraph 4(5), any amount charged above one week's rent is itself a prohibited payment.

So if a landlord or agent asks you for a holding deposit worth more than one week's rent, the excess above one week's rent is unlawful to charge, even though a holding deposit itself is permitted.

Once you have paid a holding deposit, Schedule 2 sets a timetable for what happens next. Paragraph 2(1) defines the "deadline for agreement" as the fifteenth day of the period beginning with the day the holding deposit was paid — in other words, you and the landlord have 15 days to reach agreement on the contract, unless paragraph 2(2) lets you agree a different day in writing.

Under Schedule 2 paragraphs 3–4, the landlord must repay the holding deposit within 7 days of either: the contract being made, or the deadline for agreement passing without a contract being made.

Paragraph 5 sets one exception: the landlord does not have to repay the holding deposit separately to the extent that it is applied towards your first rent payment or towards your security deposit instead — in that case, the money carries forward into the contract rather than being handed back and then re-paid.

Landlords letting property in Wales must be registered, and agents must be licensed, with Rent Smart Wales under Part 1 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014. If you think a landlord or agent has charged you a prohibited payment, or has failed to repay a holding deposit on time, you can raise this with Rent Smart Wales, or get advice from Citizens Advice, before deciding whether to pursue the matter further.

Keep a record of anything you have been asked to pay, and in what form (bank transfer, cash, card), as this will help if you need to show what happened.