Tenancy deposit protection: the 30-day deadline, the prescribed information and the cap
Take a deposit for an assured tenancy (since 1 May 2026 that includes what used to be an assured shorthold tenancy) and two deadlines start the day you receive it: protect it in a government-backed scheme, and give your tenant the prescribed information, both within 30 days. This guide covers both, the cap on how much you can take, and what a court can order if either is missed.
The 30-day rule
A deposit for an assured tenancy must be dealt with under an authorised scheme from the moment you receive it. You, or your letting agent, have 30 days to put it in the scheme, counting from the day you receive it. It applies even if someone else pays it, such as a tenant's parents or a rent deposit scheme. A letting agent acting for you can do this for you: the law reads references to the landlord as including someone acting on the landlord's behalf. A deposit must be money: you can't require property, such as a car, instead.
This guide is about private lettings: the 1 May 2026 changes to these rules aren't yet in force for social housing, and don't apply to a tenancy that was already an assured tenancy, other than a shorthold, before that date.
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Holding deposits
A holding deposit, taken to hold a home before the agreement is signed, can't be more than one week's rent and needn't be protected. The default deadline for signing the tenancy agreement is 15 days after you receive it. Once the agreement is signed, with the tenant's consent, it can go towards the deposit or the first month's rent; kept towards the deposit, it becomes a deposit and must be protected.
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The schemes
In England you can use the Deposit Protection Service, MyDeposits or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. Each lets the scheme hold the money for free (custodial), or lets you or your agent hold it and pay the scheme to insure it (insured).
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The prescribed information
Within the same 30 days, give the prescribed information to the tenant and to anyone who paid the deposit for them, in the prescribed form or one to the same effect. The information includes the property's address, how much was paid, how it is protected, the scheme's name and contact details and its dispute service, your contact details and the tenant's, those of anyone else who paid, why you might keep some or all of it, how to get it back, and what to do if they can't reach you or there is a dispute at the end.
It also includes the scheme's own leaflet information, and a certificate you sign confirming the information is accurate to the best of your knowledge and belief, and that you gave the tenant the chance to sign the document containing it.
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How much you can take
The cap is five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, and six weeks' where it is £50,000 or more, a week's rent being the annual rent divided by 52. Joint tenants share one cap: you can't ask each of them for five weeks of the total rent. Anything over the cap is a prohibited payment. Requiring one can bring a civil penalty of up to £5,000. If you do it again within five years of a penalty (or a conviction) for the same kind of breach, it can be up to £30,000, or prosecution. You don't have to take a deposit at all. A deposit over the cap on a tenancy that started before 1 June 2019 needn't be repaid until the tenancy ends or is renewed.
A tenancy at more than £100,000 a year can't be an assured tenancy, so neither the cap nor the protection duty applies to it.
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If you miss the deadline
Your tenant, or whoever paid the deposit, can apply to the county court, during the tenancy or after it ends. They can also apply if you told them a scheme holds the deposit but they can't get the scheme to confirm it. If the court finds the deposit wasn't protected, or the information wasn't given, in time, it must order you to pay them between one and three times the deposit within 14 days. While the tenancy is still running, it must also order the deposit repaid or paid into a custodial scheme. Once the tenancy has ended, it may instead order all or part of the deposit repaid within 14 days.
Some GOV.UK pages say a court 'may' order up to three times the deposit; the Act says it must order between one and three times (section 214(4)).
A court will make a possession order only once the deposit is protected, the scheme's requirements met and the information given, or the deposit returned, or the tenant's court claim decided, settled or withdrawn. For possession, protecting it late still counts, but the missed 30 days can still lead to the court order above. The bar doesn't apply to possession on Ground 7A or 14.
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At the end of the tenancy
Return the deposit within 10 days of you and the tenant agreeing how much they get back. If you disagree, it stays protected in the scheme until the dispute is settled; in an insured scheme, you or your agent must hand it to the scheme to hold. Each scheme has a free dispute resolution service for disagreements about how much is returned. You'll need evidence to support any deductions.
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What Datestone does for you
Add a tenancy with a deposit and its checklist dates the deadline 30 days from move-in, counting that day; if you took the deposit earlier, your deadline is earlier. The free tenancy deposit calculator works out the cap and the last day to protect it and give the information.