When must the deposit be protected?
Find the last day to protect a tenancy deposit in a government-approved scheme and give your tenant the prescribed information.
Enter the date you received the deposit to see the deadline.
How this is worked out
The law gives you 30 days beginning with the day you receive the deposit. The day you receive it is day 1, so the last day is 29 days after it. The same 30 days apply to protecting the deposit and to giving the prescribed information.
This is the same count Lettance uses when it checks a home's deposit dates and reads its protection certificate.
- Protect a tenancy deposit in an authorised scheme within 30 days
Any money deposit for an assured tenancy must be protected in a government-approved scheme from receipt, with the scheme's initial requirements completed within 30 days. Deposits can only be money.
- Give the deposit prescribed information within 30 days
Within 30 days of receiving a deposit, give the tenant and anyone who paid it on their behalf the prescribed information about the scheme and the deposit, in the prescribed form or substantially the same.
Legislation
- Housing Act 2004, s.213(5)-(6)legislation.gov.uk
- Housing Act 2004, s.214 (proceedings relating to tenancy deposits)legislation.gov.uk
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, s.26 (new HA 2004 s.215 sanctions)legislation.gov.uk
- Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007 (SI 2007/797), art 2legislation.gov.uk
- SI 2026/325, reg 7 (Order amended to apply to assured tenancies)legislation.gov.uk