Deposits
Is my deposit protected?
If you rent on an assured shorthold tenancy in England, your landlord must put your tenancy deposit in one of three government-approved schemes. Checking takes a few minutes and costs nothing — and you have to check all three, because nobody tells you which one was used.
Search all three schemes
There is no single search covering all of them. Each runs its own free checker, and a deposit will only appear in the one it was placed with, so a blank result from one proves nothing on its own.
- Tenancy Deposit Scheme
- Search by tenancy postcode, deposit amount and surname at tenancydepositscheme.com.
- Deposit Protection Service
- Search using the deposit ID if you have one, or by your details, at depositprotection.com.
- mydeposits
- Search by postcode, surname and deposit amount at mydeposits.co.uk.
Have the tenancy start date, the exact deposit amount and the property postcode to hand. An amount that is out by a few pounds is the usual reason a real deposit does not show up.
The deadline your landlord had
A deposit must be protected within 30 days of the landlord receiving it. Within the same 30 days they must also give you the prescribed information: which scheme holds it, how to get it back, and what happens if there is a dispute at the end.
Both duties matter. Protecting the money but never serving the prescribed information is still a failure to comply, and it is the half landlords most often miss.
What a holding deposit is, and is not
A holding deposit — the money paid to take a property off the market — is not the same thing and is not protected in a scheme. It is capped at one week’s rent, and the rules on when it must be repaid are separate. Work out the legal limits for your rent.
If it was never protected
Ask the landlord or agent in writing first, and keep the reply. People do sometimes find the deposit was protected under a slightly different name or amount.
If it genuinely was not protected, you can apply to the county court. The court can order the landlord to repay or protect the deposit, and to pay you compensation of between one and three times its value. That claim can be brought even after the tenancy has ended.
The rules and the current guidance are at gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection. This page explains how to check; it is not legal advice, and a claim is worth taking to Citizens Advice or a housing solicitor before you start it.