It is the landlord's responsibility to put any deposit received into a government approved tenancy deposit scheme if you rent your property on an assured shorthold tenancy that began after April 6th 2007.
In England and Wales, the deposit can be registered with either Deposit Protection scheme, My Deposits or Tenancy Deposit Scheme, there are separate Tenancy Deposit Schemes in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
If you don't rent your home on an assured shorthold tenancy, a landlord can accept valuable items as a deposit instead of money, an example of this would be a car or a watch. These items are not protected by a scheme.
The Landlord is required to put the deposit in to their chosen scheme within 30 days of receiving it.
At the end of the tenancy the landlord must return the deposit to the tenant within 10 days of the landlord and tenant agreeing how much is to be deducted and returned. If the landlord and tenant enter in to a dispute, the deposit will continue to be protected within the chosen scheme until the dispute is resolved.
The landlord does not have to put a holding deposit, the money paid to reserve the property prior to the tenancy agreement being signed. When the tenancy agreement is signed the holding deposit becomes a deposit, this then requires protecting in a deposit protection scheme.
If the deposit is not paid by the tenant but is instead paid by a third party on the tenant's behalf such as a relative or parents, the deposit will still need to be protected in a deposit protection scheme.
Once the landlord has received the tenants deposit, they have 30 days to tell tenant the following:
- Address of the rented property.
- How much deposit you’ve paid into a scheme.
- How the deposit is protected.
- Name and contact details of the tenancy deposit protection scheme and its dispute resolution service.
- The landlord's contact details.
- Name and contact details of any third party that’s paid the deposit.
- Reasons they would keep some or all of the deposit.
- How to apply to get the deposit back.
- What actions to take if you can’t get hold of the landlord at the end of the tenancy.
- What actions to take if there’s a dispute over the deposit.
If the tenant is not sure which scheme their deposit is held in or if the landlord has protected the deposit they are able to contact the scheme providers directly -
Deposit Protection Service
Telephone: 0330 303 0030
MyDeposits
Telephone: 0333 321 9401
Tenancy Deposit Scheme
Telephone: 0300 037 10001
If the deposit hasn't been protected
If the landlord has not protected the deposit the tenant should write to the landlord, if a resolution can not be reached the tenant can pursue the matter via their local county court, although it would be preferable for both the landlord and tenant to take legal advice neither requires a solicitor.
If the court finds the landlord has not protected the deposit, it can order them to either:
- Repay it to the tenant.
- Pay it into a tenancy deposit scheme’s bank account within 14 days.
- The court may also order the landlord to pay the tenant up to 3 times the deposit within 14 days of making the order.
At the end of the tenancy a court may decide that the tenant won’t have to leave the property when the tenancy ends if your landlord hasn’t used a tenancy deposit scheme when they should have.
Disputes and problems
The tenancy deposit protection scheme's offer a free dispute resolution service if the landlord and tenant disagree about the amount of deposit that should be returned.
The landlord and tenant don’t have to use the service but if they do, both the tenant and the landlord have to agree to, they are both then asked to provide evidence, and the decision made about your deposit will be final.
If the tenant can't contact the landlord or vice versa the party can raise a dispute to get the deposit back using the appropriate tenancy deposit protection scheme.
If you regard more advice on anything mentioned in this post you can get more information from your local Citizens Advice office, a solicitor or advice agency or Shelter in England or Shelter in Wales.
