04 · Deposits

Protection, prescribed information, and what a deduction must show

AThe clock starts when the money arrives

The day the money arrives is the day the counting starts.

Not the day the contract was signed, not the occupation date, and not the day the payment cleared into a different account.

A security deposit must be held in an authorised scheme and the prescribed information served on the contract-holder within thirty days of the deposit being received. The two are separate acts and they share one window.

Deposit protection deadline guide only

Enter the day the money arrived. The deadline, the days elapsed and the days left print below as a subtraction.

BWhat the prescribed information has to say

iWhich scheme holds the deposit, with the scheme's contact details.

i · Scheme name and referenceTaken from the certificate, not retyped from memory of the last contract.

iiThe amount held, the address of the dwelling it relates to, and the name and contact details of the landlord and of any agent.

ii · Prescribed information sheetWhere an agent is named, the landlord is still named too. A sheet with only an agent on it does not tell the contract-holder whose money it is.

iiiThe circumstances in which all or part of the deposit may be kept, and how the scheme's dispute procedure works.

iii · Prescribed information sheetStated in the terms of the contract actually signed, not as a general list of things landlords sometimes deduct for.

ivConfirmation signed by the landlord that the information is accurate, and served on every contract-holder and on anyone who paid the deposit on their behalf.

iv · Service recordEach person served, the date, and the means. Joint contract-holders are served individually; one envelope addressed to the dwelling does not record who received it.

CThe chain a proposed deduction has to run through

A deduction is a claim, and a claim is only as good as the chain behind it. Each link has to be dated and each link has to point at the next one.

  1. The schedule line

    The line in the schedule of condition that says what the item was at check-in.

  2. The report line

    The line in the check-out report that says what the same item is now.

  3. The photograph

    The image that shows it, numbered to the line it belongs to.

  4. The quotation

    A written quotation for putting it right, from whoever would do the work.

  5. The proposal

    The deduction put to the contract-holder in writing, with the four links above attached.

DReturn, agreement, and what happens when there is neither

At the end of the contract the deposit is returned, or returned in part with the balance proposed as a deduction. Where the contract-holder agrees, the scheme releases the money on the agreed split.

Where they do not agree, the disputed amount stays with the scheme and goes to the scheme's free adjudication. The undisputed part is released straight away; holding all of it until the dispute ends is not an option.

The calculator on this page counts days and nothing else. It does not know the terms of your contract, which scheme the deposit sits in, or whether a payment cleared on the day it was promised. The statutory items · What is kept, and for how long · Back to what is held here