mydeposits vs DPS vs TDS: Which Protects You Best

All three schemes offer two models: custodial and insurance-backed.

In a custodial scheme, the landlord hands your deposit to the scheme, which holds it until the tenancy ends. This costs the landlord nothing. In an insurance-backed scheme, the landlord keeps your money in their own account and pays the scheme a fee, typically £17 to £35 per deposit (Tenancy Deposit Schemes Market Report, 2026), to insure it.

For tenants, custodial is safer in practice. Your money sits with a neutral third party rather than in your landlord's bank account. If a landlord goes quiet at the end of a tenancy, the scheme can release funds without needing the landlord's cooperation.

The DPS custodial product is the most widely used in the market, favoured by self-managing landlords because it is free and straightforward. TDS leans toward letting agents. mydeposits offers both models and sits inside a broader ecosystem that includes landlord insurance and deposit-replacement products.

What this means for you as a tenant: ask your landlord which model they used. If they are on an insurance-backed scheme and you are struggling to recover your deposit at the end of the tenancy, raise a dispute through the scheme directly rather than waiting for the landlord to respond.

This is the rule most landlords get wrong, and the one that costs them the most.

Under Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004, your landlord must protect your deposit in one of the three approved schemes and serve you with 'prescribed information' within 30 days of receiving it. Prescribed information means the scheme's certificate, the scheme's leaflet, and confirmation of where your deposit is held.

Missing that deadline is not a technicality. If your landlord failed to protect your deposit on time, you can seek compensation for the failure to comply with these legal requirements.

All three schemes, DPS, TDS, and mydeposits, provide a free online checker tool where you can verify your deposit status using your name, postcode, and tenancy start date. Check yours now if you have not already. You do not need to wait until the end of the tenancy to find out whether the protection was done correctly.

If your deposit was protected late, or not at all, Remedy's deposit protection violation compensation guide walks through the exact steps to claim.

Formal disputes are rare. Most tenancies end with a straightforward return or a negotiated deduction, with only a small minority of cases requiring formal adjudication. But when disputes do happen, how the schemes handle them matters.

The process is broadly identical across DPS, TDS, and mydeposits:

1. At the end of the tenancy, the landlord or tenant raises a request for the deposit through the scheme's platform.
2. The other party has a set period to respond and propose deductions.
3. If agreement cannot be reached, either party can escalate to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
4. An independent adjudicator reviews the evidence and issues a binding decision.

ADR is free at all three schemes. You do not need a solicitor.

Timelines differ slightly between the schemes. The low volume of formal adjudications across the sector points to how frequently disputes are resolved before reaching that stage. DPS, as the largest provider with 40% to 41% of the market (Tenancy Deposit Schemes Market Report, 2026), handles the highest volume of cases.

Cleaning and property damage are common reasons for adjudicated disputes. If those are the areas your landlord is contesting, your strongest tools are the check-in inventory, dated photographs, and any written communications where the condition of the property was acknowledged.

The adjudicator's decision is final. You cannot appeal to the scheme. If you believe the decision was procedurally wrong, a county court claim is the next step, but that is a different process entirely.

Bluntly: for tenants, the scheme your landlord chose matters less than whether they used it correctly.

All three schemes provide identical legal protections. The 30-day deadline, the prescribed information requirement, the free ADR process, and the one-to-three-times penalty for non-compliance apply regardless of whether your deposit is with DPS, TDS, or mydeposits. Your rights do not change based on which scheme your landlord enrolled with.

Where the schemes differ is in user experience during a dispute. DPS is the largest and most familiar to self-managing landlords. mydeposits offers the most integrated tools, particularly if your landlord is also using their insurance products. TDS has a strong adjudication track record and is widely used by letting agents, which can mean more professional handling on the landlord's side.

From a tenant's perspective, the most important thing is to verify your deposit is protected at all. After that, the process of raising a dispute is similar enough across all three that it should not be a deciding factor in how you approach a claim.

One area worth knowing: if your landlord is on an insurance-backed product with any of the three schemes and fails to hand over the deposit when ordered, the scheme's insurance covers the payout. Your money is protected regardless of whether the landlord cooperates.

This happens more than landlords admit. A landlord might have switched schemes between tenancies and enrolled you under an old one. They might have protected the deposit on day 45, not day 30. They might have served prescribed information to the wrong email address.

Each of these is a potential breach. Here is what to do:

Step one: Check all three scheme websites using your details. If your deposit does not appear on any of them, it was not protected.

Step two: If it was protected late or the prescribed information was defective, write to your landlord formally noting the breach and requesting their response. Keep this in writing.

Step three: If the landlord does not respond or disputes the breach, you can file a county court claim under Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004. The court can award one to three times the deposit value.

You do not have to wait until the end of the tenancy to bring this claim. Late protection is a breach the moment it occurs.

If you are not sure what you are owed or how strong your position is, Remedy's free instant assessment can review your situation and give you clear next steps, no credit card required. Remedy also generates formal letters to landlords citing the relevant legislation, which is often enough to prompt a response without going to court at all.

For a broader view of what landlord violations you may be entitled to claim for, the guide on UK tenant rights and landlord violations is a useful starting point.

The process is similar across DPS, TDS, and mydeposits, but tenants often stall at the start because they do not know how to begin. Here is the sequence:

1. Request the deposit back through the scheme's platform. Log into the scheme's website and submit a repayment request. If your landlord does not respond within the scheme's deadline (typically 10 to 14 days), the scheme may release the full deposit to you automatically.

2. If the landlord proposes deductions you disagree with, reject them. Do not simply accept a number you think is wrong. State clearly which deductions you contest and why.

3. Escalate to ADR. Both parties submit evidence to the adjudicator. Your evidence should include: the check-in and check-out inventory, dated photographs from both ends of the tenancy, any cleaning receipts, and any written communication with the landlord about property condition.

4. Wait for the decision. The adjudicator will review the evidence and issue a ruling. The decision is binding on both parties.

5. If the landlord refuses to pay out after an ADR decision, contact the scheme. They will enforce it using the protection insurance.

The single biggest mistake tenants make in disputes is submitting vague evidence. 'The flat was clean when I left' is not evidence. A dated photograph of every room taken on move-out day is. Start collecting that documentation now, not the week you are leaving.