Tenancy Deposit Penalty

Sections 213–215 of the Housing Act 2004 require a landlord who takes a deposit on an assured shorthold tenancy to protect it in an authorised scheme within 30 days and to serve the prescribed information about where it is held. Where they fail on either count:

• The court must award the tenant a penalty of between 1× and 3× the deposit (s.214(4)) — the amount within that range is at the court's discretion.
• Each fresh tenancy where the breach was repeated can attract a separate penalty — a renewal fixed term, or the statutory periodic tenancy that arises when a fixed term ends, each counts (Superstrike v Rodrigues [2013]).
• The deposit must additionally be returned in full or paid into a scheme.

The calculator multiplies your deposit by 1× and by 3×, then by the number of tenancies you enter, to give the overall range. The severity you select maps to an indicative multiplier reflecting how courts typically exercise the discretion: minor or quickly-corrected breaches around 1×, months of non-protection around 2×, deliberate or never-protected cases towards 3×. That mapping is illustrative only — the court can award anywhere in the range, and your conduct as well as the landlord's can influence where.

What this tool does not check: whether your tenancy is actually an assured shorthold tenancy in England or Wales (the s.214 penalty regime only applies there), whether the six-year limitation period for a contract claim has expired, or whether each renewal genuinely counts as a fresh breach on your facts. Holding deposits and banned letting fees are governed separately by the Tenant Fees Act 2019. Worth knowing before you negotiate: an unprotected deposit also prevents the landlord serving a valid section 21 eviction notice until the deposit is returned.