The Tenancy Deposit Scheme

Your landlord must put your deposit in a government-backed tenancy deposit scheme (TDP) if you rent your home on an assured shorthold tenancy that started after 6 April 2007.

In England and Wales your deposit can be registered with:

• Deposit Protection Service (Custodial and Insured)
• MyDeposits
• Tenancy Deposit Scheme

They make sure you’ll get your deposit back if you:

• meet the terms of your tenancy agreement
• don’t damage the property
• pay your rent and bills

Your landlord or letting agent must put your deposit in the scheme within 30 days of getting it.

Gardiner Residential use Mydeposits as their provider and Landlords and Tenants agree to be bound by the rules and procedures of their scheme.

Please click here for more information.

At the end of your tenancy

• The Agent will advise the Tenant in writing within 10 working days of the termination date of the Tenancy of any proposed deductions from the Deposit for any sums due to the Landlord, including the Agent's reasonable fees and disbursements.
  
  
• If there is no dispute the Agent on behalf of the Landlord will keep or repay the Deposit or the proportion of the Deposit according to the agreed deductions and the conditions of the Tenancy Agreement. Payment of the Deposit or any balance of it will be made within 10 working days of the Landlord and the Tenant agreeing the allocation of the Deposit. In the event that the Deposit is insufficient to pay all liabilities the remainder shall remain due and payable by the Tenant to the Landlord.
  
  
• If the Tenant intends to dispute any of the proposed deductions from the Deposit then the Tenant must inform the Agent and TDSL that a dispute has arisen. The details of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Service provided under TDSL can be found at www.mydeposits.co.uk. The statutory rights of the Landlord and the Tenant to take legal action through the County Court remain unaffected.

If you’re in a dispute with your landlord, then your deposit will be protected in the TDP scheme until the issue is sorted out.

Holding deposits
Your landlord doesn’t have to protect a holding deposit (money you pay to ‘hold’ a property before an agreement is signed). Once you become a tenant, the holding deposit becomes a deposit, which they must protect.


Deposits made by a third party
Your landlord must use a TDP scheme even if your deposit is paid by someone else, eg a rent deposit scheme or your parents.