What is Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme (TDP)

Published: 26/03/2019 By Peter Barry

Under the provisions of the Housing Act 2004 every landlord or letting agency that takes a deposit for an Assured Shorthold Tenancy in England and Wales must join a Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme (TDP). The new regulations came into effect on April 6, 2007.

In England and Wales your deposit can be registered with:

• Deposit Protection Service
• MyDeposits 
• Tenancy Deposit Scheme

A TDP scheme will ensure you get your deposit back if you meet the terms of your tenancy agreement, for example, you don’t cause any damage to the property and the rent & bills are paid in full on the date you leave.

Information landlords must give tenants

Once your landlord/letting agent has received your deposit, they have 30 days to advise you of the following:-

• the address of the rented property
• how much deposit you’ve paid
• how the deposit is protected
• the name and contact details of the tenancy deposit protection (TDP) scheme and its dispute resolution service
• their (or the letting agency’s) name and contact details
• the name and contact details of any third party that’s paid the deposit
• why they would keep some or all of the deposit
• how to apply to get the deposit back
• what to do if you can’t get hold of the landlord at the end of the tenancy
• what to do if there’s a dispute over the deposit 

What happens when I move out?

At the end of your tenancy, you and your landlord/letting agent need to agree how your deposit will be repaid. Both parties need to confirm with the TDP scheme that they are in agreement before a repayment will be made. The landlord may not be happy with the level of cleaning and make a charge of say £100 to get a professional cleaner in. If the tenant feels this is a reasonable charge the £100 will be paid to the landlord whilst the remainder of the deposit will be paid to the tenant.

If there is a dispute about how the money is to be divided, the landlord and tenant are entitled to take advantage of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service attached to the scheme. This is provided by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. The ADR service will request evidence from both parties to uphold their claims and make a decision on how the deposit is to be split based on that evidence. Both parties must agree to use the service and be bound by its decision with no recourse to the courts. The use of the ADR service is not compulsory, and if one or both of the parties do not agree to use the ADR service, a dispute can progress to court.