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Protect tenant deposits within 30 days
Legal requirement to protect tenant deposits with government-approved scheme within 30 days. Covers deposit protection deadlines, deposit amount limits, and geographic differences across the UK.
Guide summary
Protect your tenant's deposit with a government-approved scheme within 30 days of getting it. Give the tenant written information about the scheme within the same time. If you do not protect the deposit, a court can order you to pay the tenant up to 3 times the deposit value and you will lose your right to evict the tenant without a reason.
- Protect the deposit within 30 calendar days (England and Wales)
- Protect the deposit within 28 calendar days (Northern Ireland)
- Protect the deposit within 30 working days (Scotland)
- Give the tenant prescribed information within the same deadline
- Prescribed information must say the deposit HAS been protected
- Penalty for not protecting: court orders 1 to 3 times the deposit paid to tenant
- You lose your Section 21 eviction right if you do not protect the deposit
- In England, the maximum deposit is 5 weeks' rent (or 6 weeks for rent over £50,000)
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Protecting tenant deposits is a legal requirement for all landlords and letting agents. You must protect deposits with a government-approved scheme and provide prescribed information to tenants within strict deadlines. Failure to comply results in court penalties and loss of eviction rights.
Deposit amount limits
The maximum deposit you can charge is capped by law in England only under the Tenant Fees Act 2019. Wales has no security deposit cap. Scotland caps deposits at 2 months' rent. Northern Ireland has no specific deposit cap legislation.