Guidance on Tenancy Deposit Protection

Since April 2007, all deposits taken by landlords must be protected by a government-approved deposit protection scheme. Within 30 days of receiving a tenant’s deposit, the landlord must choose one of the deposit protection schemes available, safeguard the deposit with the scheme, and notify the tenant of the scheme used. This helpful list and accompanying video explains how to successfully use tenancy deposit protection.

Top Tips for Tenancy Deposit Protection

The top tips for successfully using tenancy deposit protection are:

1. Make sure you have safeguarded the deposit under an approved deposit protection scheme within 30 days. The penalties for not doing this can be quite severe.
2. Observe the deposit protection scheme’s own rules and try to provide the deposit protection scheme’s standard leaflet to the tenant to help them understand the particulars of the scheme.
3. At the start of the tenancy, make sure that you have a really robust tenancy agreement. Our tenancy agreement template is recommended as a template for an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST), and is available to download for just £5.99.
4. Have a robust check-in inventory and involve the tenant in its completion. This should cover the state of the property and its contents in as much detail as possible, and is required in the event of a dispute. Our template tenancy agreement integrates the check-in inventory in to the agreement including a sample table attached at the end.
5. Keep specific and documented records of everything during the tenancy especially if things start going wrong, so that in the event of a dispute the deposit protection scheme can more easily make a decision about how to redistribute the deposit money.