How to Raise a Deposit Dispute: mydeposits, DPS or TDS

Every landlord in England and Wales must protect your deposit in one of three government-approved schemes within 30 days of receiving it: mydeposits, the DPS, or the TDS. If they do not, that is a separate violation entirely. You can read more about it in our guide on deposit protection violations and compensation.

Assuming the deposit was protected, the scheme also provides a free ADR service when landlord and tenant cannot agree on deductions. ADR replaces going to the county court for most deposit disagreements. The adjudicator is independent, the process is document-based, and the decision is final and binding on both parties.

There are two types of deposit protection: custodial and insurance-backed. In a custodial scheme, the scheme holds your money for the duration of the tenancy. In an insurance-backed scheme, the landlord holds the money and pays an insurance premium to the scheme. This distinction matters when you raise a dispute, because the timelines differ. In custodial schemes, you can start the ADR process after one complete round of failed negotiations. The dispute deadline for insurance-backed tenancy deposit schemes is generally within the scheme’s required time limit after the tenancy ends, but it is not accurately stated as 'three calendar months minus one day of moving out.' Miss that window and the scheme may not be able to help you.

Get the dispute in writing as early as possible. Email is better than text. A paper trail is not just useful, it is often decisive.

Adjudicators decide cases solely on the documents submitted. They do not hold hearings, they do not take phone calls, and they will not chase either party for missing paperwork. What you send is what they judge.

Before you raise a dispute through any of the three schemes, pull together:

• The check-in inventory, signed by you and dated.
• The check-out report, ideally signed by both parties or at least dated and provided by the landlord's agent.
• Dated photographs or video from both move-in and move-out.
• The full tenancy agreement, including any clauses the landlord is relying on.
• All written correspondence about the deductions (emails, texts, letters).
• Invoices or quotes for any repairs the landlord is claiming for.

If your landlord cannot produce a signed check-in inventory, that weakens their position considerably. Adjudicators cannot award deductions for damage that was not documented at the start of the tenancy. The burden of proof sits with the landlord: they must show the property was in better condition when you moved in than when you left.

Organise everything into a single PDF before you upload it. Schemes do not always accept multiple separate files, and a disorganised submission makes the adjudicator's job harder, which rarely helps your case.

If you are unsure how strong your evidence is, you can use Remedy Legal to upload your documents and review your legal position before you file anything.

The Deposit Protection Service runs both a custodial scheme and an insurance-backed scheme. Log in at depositprotection.com using your deposit certificate number. If you do not have that number, contact the DPS directly. Your landlord is required to give it to you.

Before you can start a dispute, you must have formally requested the return of your deposit and waited at least 10 days without reaching an agreement. The DPS calls this a 'repayment request.' Do it through the portal, not just by text to your landlord.

Once you have made the repayment request and 10 days have passed:

1. Log into your DPS account and go to 'Raise a Dispute.'
2. Set out the amount you agree with and the amount you are disputing.
3. Upload your evidence bundle.
4. Submit.

The DPS will notify your landlord, who then has a set period to respond with their own evidence. Both submissions go to an independent adjudicator. DPS adjudicators typically return a decision within 28 working days of receiving all evidence.

The DPS custodial scheme holds the disputed amount while the process runs. For the insurance-backed DPS scheme, the landlord usually keeps the disputed deposit until the dispute is resolved; the disputed funds are not generally transferred to DPS before adjudication begins.

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme operates both custodial and insurance-backed products. The insurance-backed version, TDS Insured, is widely used by letting agents. The custodial version is TDS Custodial.

Log in at tenancydepositscheme.com. You will need your deposit ID from your deposit protection certificate. If your agent handled the tenancy, the ID should be in your original deposit protection confirmation email.

The process mirrors the DPS:

1. Submit a formal request for your deposit and document the landlord's response (or lack of one).
2. Wait 10 calendar days.
3. Log in and raise a dispute through the portal, specifying the amount in dispute.
4. Upload your evidence bundle.

One TDS-specific point: for TDS Insured, the landlord must pay the disputed amount into the scheme before adjudication proceeds. If they refuse or delay, contact TDS directly. The scheme has mechanisms to pursue landlords who do not comply.

TDS adjudication is not accurately described as a roughly 28-working-day turnaround once evidence is complete; TDS states adjudication times vary and are typically measured in weeks, but this exact timeframe is not the standard published rule. The decision document explains the reasoning in detail, which is useful if you need to escalate.

mydeposits is used widely by private landlords rather than agents. Like the others, it offers both custodial and insurance-backed protection.

Go to mydeposits.co.uk and log into your tenant account. You need your deposit protection certificate number. If your landlord never gave you one, that itself may be a separate breach. See our guide on what to do if your landlord did not protect your deposit within 30 days.

The mydeposits dispute process:

1. Formally request your deposit back through the portal.
2. Wait 10 days for your landlord to respond.
3. If you cannot agree, raise a dispute through 'My Cases.'
4. State the amount in dispute and upload your evidence.

For mydeposits insurance-backed cases, the three-month deadline runs from the tenancy end date, not from when negotiations broke down. If you have been going back and forth with your landlord for several weeks and the end date was two months ago, raise the dispute immediately. Do not wait for negotiations to fully collapse.

mydeposits does not have a universal published rule that decisions are generally returned within 30 working days of receiving all documents from both parties; turnaround depends on case volume and process, and this exact claim is not reliably stated as a scheme-wide standard.

Adjudication is a paper review. The adjudicator reads both submissions, applies the balance of probabilities test (which version of events is more likely to be true based on the documents), and issues a written decision.

The adjudicator can award the full disputed amount to you, split it, or award nothing. They can only award amounts that have been properly evidenced. A landlord claiming £400 for repainting but submitting no invoice, no before-and-after photos, and no explanation of why normal wear and tear does not apply will likely not get that £400.

A few things adjudicators consistently look for:

• Wear and tear vs. damage. A carpet that is worn after five years of normal use is not damage. A carpet with a burn hole is. Adjudicators are trained to make this distinction.
• Like-for-like replacements. A landlord cannot replace a ten-year-old sofa with a brand-new one and charge you the full cost. They must account for betterment.
• Proper documentation at check-in. If the landlord cannot show the property was in better condition at the start, they cannot claim it deteriorated because of you.

The decision is binding on both parties. There is no appeal within the scheme. If you believe the process was procedurally flawed (not just that you disagree with the outcome), you can complain to the scheme's own complaints team and ultimately to the Independent Complaints Examiner.

For a detailed walkthrough of how deposit disputes are handled end to end, see our tenancy deposit dispute resolution guide.

ADR is not always available. If the landlord has not protected your deposit at all, the schemes cannot adjudicate. There is no protected deposit to release. If the three-month deadline has passed for an insurance-backed scheme, the ADR door may be closed.

In those situations, your route is the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) or the county court. The Tribunal handles deposit protection failures directly. For straightforward deposit recovery where ADR has failed, the small claims court is often the right path for amounts under £10,000.

Before you file anything at court, send a letter before action. A properly drafted letter before action tells your landlord exactly what you are claiming, the legal basis for the claim, and the deadline to respond before you issue proceedings. Many disputes settle at this stage. You can read more in our guide on writing a letter before action to your landlord.

If your landlord failed to protect the deposit at all, that is a different claim with a different remedy. Under Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004, you may be owed up to three times the deposit amount as a financial penalty, plus the deposit itself. Remedy Legal's free assessment checks for exactly this kind of violation, including whether the deposit was protected on time and whether you received the prescribed information.

Start your free situation assessment at Remedy Legal to find out what you are owed and what to do next.