In England and Wales, landlords must protect any deposit taken from a tenant in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme (TDS) within 30 days of receiving it. Failure to do so means the landlord cannot serve a valid Section 21 notice and may be liable to pay the tenant up to 3× the deposit amount as a penalty.
The three approved schemes
- Deposit Protection Service (DPS) — free custodial scheme
- MyDeposits — custodial and insured options
- Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) — custodial and insured options
Tenant rights
Within 30 days of protecting your deposit, your landlord must give you 'prescribed information' — which scheme holds it, how to get it back, and how to raise a dispute. At the end of the tenancy, you can raise a free dispute if you disagree with deductions.
Check your deposit is protected at gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection.
The actual penalty if your landlord doesn't comply
A landlord who fails to protect a deposit, or protects it more than 30 days late, or doesn't provide the prescribed information, is liable to pay the tenant compensation of between 1 and 3 times the deposit amount — on top of returning the original deposit itself. The exact multiple a court awards depends on the severity of the breach; a deliberate failure to protect tends to attract a higher penalty than a minor administrative delay.
You can still claim even if...
- You've already moved out — you don't need to still be living in the property to bring a claim against a former landlord
- Your deposit was eventually returned in full — the landlord remains liable for the breach itself (failing to protect it, or protecting it late) regardless of whether the money was ultimately returned
- It was protected, just late — protecting a deposit on day 31 or later is still a breach of the 30-day rule, even though it was eventually protected
How long you have to claim
You generally have up to 6 years from the date your deposit should have been protected to bring a claim, though as with any dispute, it's easier to gather evidence and act while details are still fresh rather than waiting.