mydeposits Tenant Guide UK

mydeposits offers two distinct protection models, and which one your landlord chose matters more than most tenants realise.

Insurance-backed protection means your landlord holds the deposit money in their own account but pays a premium to mydeposits to insure it. Your landlord has the cash. If they disappear, go bankrupt, or simply refuse to engage, mydeposits steps in. This model is common with letting agents and larger portfolio landlords.

Custodial protection means the money itself is held by mydeposits, not your landlord. Your landlord transfers the deposit to the scheme, and it sits there until both parties agree how it should be split at the end of the tenancy. This is closer to what most tenants picture when they imagine "deposit protection".

The practical difference: in a custodial scheme, your landlord physically cannot spend your deposit. In an insurance-backed scheme, they can spend it and rely on the insurance to cover any payout. Over 90% of tenants in insurance-backed schemes receive all or part of their deposit back, so the system works in practice. But if your landlord is insolvent and the scheme has to pay out, the process takes longer.

If you are unsure which model applies to you, use the mydeposits Deposit Checker online. You will need your deposit protection certificate number. If you cannot find that number, that itself is a signal worth paying attention to.

Within 30 calendar days of paying your deposit, your landlord is legally required to give you two things: confirmation that the deposit is protected, and a document called Prescribed Information. Under the Housing Act 2004, failing to serve Prescribed Information correctly is not a technicality. It is a breach that allows you to claim compensation of between one and three times the deposit amount.

Prescribed Information for mydeposits must use the official mydeposits template. A landlord who writes their own summary of how deposits work does not satisfy the requirement. The form must include the scheme's contact details, how to raise a dispute, and the landlord's own details. If your landlord used a different scheme's form, or handed you a generic letter, the Prescribed Information is likely invalid.

Check the date on your Prescribed Information against your move-in date. If more than 30 days passed between when you paid the deposit and when you received the document, your landlord was already in breach before the paperwork even arrived. For more detail on what that breach means in compensation terms, see our guide on deposit protection violations and how to claim compensation.

Keep your Prescribed Information document somewhere accessible. You will need it if you raise a dispute or make a claim.

Landlords do not always protect deposits, despite the legal requirement. Government data suggests a meaningful proportion of deposits go unprotected, and tenants typically only discover this when they try to get their money back.

The check takes about two minutes. Go to the mydeposits website, find the Deposit Checker tool, and enter either your certificate number or your personal details and tenancy address. The checker will confirm whether a deposit is registered under that scheme.

If it comes back empty, run the same check on the other two authorised schemes: the Deposit Protection Service (DPS) and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). Your landlord may have used a different scheme without telling you, which is sloppy but not necessarily a breach. If none of the three schemes show a protected deposit, your landlord has broken the law.

A landlord who never protected your deposit within 30 days faces a compensation claim under Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004. If you paid a £1,351 deposit and it was never protected, you could claim up to £4,053 on top of getting the deposit returned. Landlord didn't protect deposit within 30 days explains exactly how that process works.

When your tenancy ends and you disagree with deductions your landlord wants to make, mydeposits offers a free formal resolution service called Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). You do not need a solicitor. You do not need to go to court. An independent adjudicator reviews the evidence and makes a decision.

The process works like this:

1. Your tenancy ends and your landlord proposes deductions.
2. You tell mydeposits you do not agree with the proposed deductions.
3. Both sides submit evidence. The adjudicator reviews it. Neither side gets to argue in person.
4. The adjudicator issues a decision, usually within 28 days.
5. The deposit is released according to that decision.

Adjudicators rely entirely on the evidence submitted. They do not take your word or your landlord's word for anything. This matters more than most tenants realise. If your landlord claims you damaged the kitchen floor but cannot produce a check-in report showing the floor was in good condition, the adjudicator has nothing to support that deduction. If you dispute a professional cleaning charge but cannot show the property was clean when you left, the deduction may stand.

Landlords receive the full claimed deposit in fewer than 20% of ADR cases (mydeposits, 2026). Tenants win partial or full returns far more often. The adjudication system is genuinely tenant-friendly when tenants come prepared.

For a full breakdown of how to raise a dispute across all three schemes, including what evidence to submit, see our guide on how to raise a deposit dispute with mydeposits, DPS or TDS.

The single biggest reason tenants lose deposit disputes is not unfair adjudicators. It is that tenants do not have the right paperwork.

The evidence that wins disputes:

Check-in and check-out reports. These are the backbone of any dispute. A dated, signed check-in report showing the property's condition when you moved in is the clearest way to prove that damage existed before your tenancy. If your landlord never gave you a check-in report, that works in your favour, but you still need your own evidence of the property's condition on the day you moved in.

Photographs with metadata. Photos taken on a phone with location and date data embedded are far stronger than photos without. Take them at check-in and at check-out. Email them to yourself on both days so the timestamp is on record.

Written communications. If you reported a maintenance issue in writing and your landlord ignored it, keep those messages. If the property then deteriorated because the issue was not fixed, you have evidence the fault was not yours.

Invoices and quotes. If your landlord claims £400 for professional cleaning, the adjudicator will want to see an actual invoice from a named cleaning company, not a round number typed into an email. Unsubstantiated charges typically fail.

Fair wear and tear is not a deductible loss. Your landlord cannot charge you for a carpet that was already five years old and showing age-appropriate wear when you left. Adjudicators know the difference between normal use and genuine damage.

If your landlord is making deductions that feel fabricated or inflated, Remedy Legal can help you assess your position. The free instant situation assessment takes a few minutes and tells you what you're likely owed.

The Renters' Rights Act is being implemented in stages, with significant provisions taking effect from May 2026. The deposit protection rules themselves remain consistent: protect within 30 days, serve Prescribed Information on time, and use the correct template. What changes is the broader tenancy structure around deposits.

Under the Act, landlords can no longer charge more than five weeks' rent as a deposit on annual rentals under £50,000. That cap already existed under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, but the Renters' Rights Act reinforces it in the context of the new periodic tenancy framework. All assured shorthold tenancies convert to assured periodic tenancies from the date the Act takes effect, which means the 30-day protection requirement applies to those tenancies on an ongoing basis.

Landlords are also required to serve an official Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet by 31 May 2026 for applicable tenancies. If your landlord has not done this, that is a compliance gap worth noting.

One practical change worth watching: as more tenants challenge unlawful practices under the new framework, the volume of deposit disputes is expected to rise. The dispute process through mydeposits remains free and unchanged, but be prepared for longer wait times if there is a surge in ADR cases post-May 2026.

For the full picture on what the Act changes for tenants, see our breakdown of Renters Rights Act 2025 deposit rule changes.

Most deposit disputes resolve through the mydeposits ADR service. Some do not, usually because a landlord in an insurance-backed scheme refuses to engage with the ADR process or disputes that any claim is valid.

If your landlord refuses to use ADR, or if the dispute falls outside the scope of what ADR covers, your next step is the First-tier Tribunal or county court. A court claim for an unprotected deposit is straightforward. A claim for disputed deductions where your landlord has left the ADR process is more complex but still manageable without a solicitor if you have the right evidence.

Before you file anything in court, send a letter before action. This is a formal written notice that gives your landlord a specific deadline (usually 14 days) to resolve the issue before you proceed with a claim. In many cases, this alone triggers a response. Landlords often prefer to settle than to appear in court. Remedy Legal generates letter before action documents that cite the correct legislation, and you can use the platform's letter before action landlord guide to understand exactly what the letter needs to say.

If your landlord still does not respond, Remedy Legal's paid platform tier at £40 includes tribunal filing support, court bundle generation, and deadline tracking. For larger claims, the no win no fee option includes a 30-minute expert consultation and full document review, with the platform taking a minimum of 10% of winnings only if you succeed.