Deposit Protection and Prescribed Information: What Landlords Must Do
Where a landlord takes a tenancy deposit for an assured shorthold tenancy in England, they are required to protect it in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme within 30 days of receiving it and to provide the tenant with Prescribed Information about the scheme within the same period. Failure to do so exposes the landlord to a financial penalty and may have implications for possession proceedings. This guide covers what is required, which schemes are approved, what Prescribed Information must include, and what to do if a deposit is not protected in time. It is derived from the Housing Act 2004 as amended and official GOV.UK guidance. It is not legal advice.
Both the duty to protect the deposit and the duty to provide Prescribed Information must be completed within 30 days of the landlord receiving the deposit. Missing either deadline, or completing one but not the other, may constitute a breach. Courts may order a penalty of between one and three times the deposit amount where a breach is established.
The two duties
Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 (as amended by the Localism Act 2011) sets out two distinct duties that arise when a landlord receives a tenancy deposit for an assured shorthold tenancy in England:
- Protect the deposit in one of the three government-approved tenancy deposit protection schemes within 30 days of receiving it.
- Provide Prescribed Information to the tenant (and any relevant person, such as a guarantor who paid the deposit) within 30 days of receiving the deposit.
Both duties must be met. Protecting the deposit without providing the Prescribed Information, or vice versa, does not satisfy the full obligation.
The three approved schemes
Landlords may use any one of three government-approved schemes. Each offers two options: a custodial scheme (where the deposit is held by the scheme) and an insured scheme (where the landlord holds the deposit but it is insured by the scheme).
| Scheme | Website | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit Protection Service (DPS) | depositprotection.com | Custodial and insured |
| MyDeposits | mydeposits.co.uk | Custodial and insured |
| Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) | tenancydepositscheme.com | Custodial and insured |
All three are authorised by the government. The choice between schemes and between custodial and insured options is the landlord's. Each scheme has its own process for registering a deposit, issuing the Prescribed Information, and handling disputes at the end of the tenancy.
What Prescribed Information must include
The Prescribed Information required under the Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007 must include:
- The address of the property to which the tenancy relates
- The amount of the deposit
- The name and contact details of the tenancy deposit scheme and its administrator
- Whether the scheme is a custodial or insured scheme
- The procedures for applying for the return of the deposit at the end of the tenancy
- The procedures that apply where there is a dispute between the landlord and tenant about the deposit
- The facilities available under the scheme for resolving disputes
- The scheme's information leaflet
Each of the three approved schemes provides its own Prescribed Information document and leaflet as part of the registration process. Landlords who use a scheme's standard documentation for the Prescribed Information should check that all required information is present and accurate.
Landlords should obtain a signed acknowledgement from the tenant that the Prescribed Information has been received, or retain other contemporaneous evidence of service (such as a dated delivery email or signed covering letter). This is your primary evidence that the obligation was met if a dispute arises later.
Deposit cap
For new tenancies in England from 1 June 2019, the maximum permitted deposit is limited by the Tenant Fees Act 2019. Where the annual rent is less than £50,000, the maximum permitted tenancy deposit is five weeks' rent. Where the annual rent is £50,000 or more, the maximum is six weeks' rent.
Taking a deposit above the permitted cap is a prohibited payment under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, which may result in a financial penalty. Any deposit above the cap must be repaid.
Penalties for non-compliance
Where a court finds that a deposit has not been protected in accordance with the requirements, or that the Prescribed Information has not been provided within 30 days, it may make one or both of the following orders:
- Order the landlord to return the deposit to the tenant or pay it into a scheme within 14 days
- Order the landlord to pay a penalty of between one and three times the deposit amount to the tenant
The penalty is at the court's discretion within that range. Courts take account of the landlord's conduct, whether the failure was deliberate or inadvertent, and whether the deposit was eventually protected. The fact that a deposit is eventually protected does not remove the exposure — the obligation was to protect it within 30 days.
Beyond the direct financial penalty, a failure to protect the deposit may also have implications in Section 8 possession proceedings. The official GOV.UK guidance on repossession following the Renters' Rights Act 2025 states that deposit protection compliance is among the requirements whose breach may affect a landlord's ability to rely on certain possession grounds.
What to do if a deposit was not protected in time
If a deposit was not protected within 30 days, the landlord is already in breach of the statutory obligation. Protecting the deposit late does not undo the breach, but it is better than leaving the deposit unprotected.
Landlords in this situation should take legal advice before taking any further steps — particularly before attempting to serve any possession notice, as the breach may be raised by the tenant in those proceedings. A solicitor can advise on whether the late protection mitigates the position and what, if any, remedial steps are available.