Deposit Protection Service > How to use our service > Protecting deposits

You must protect tenancy deposits with a Government authorised deposit protection scheme. You must also provide the tenants with Prescribed Information. Send this to them within 30 days of receiving the deposit, otherwise, you could be penalised between one and three times the amount of the deposit.

Follow this guidance to protect your deposits and meet your legal obligations.

Before you protect a deposit:

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Do you have a written tenancy agreement in place?

The Renters' Rights Act requires all new tenancies have a written tenancy agreement.

 
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Is the deposit within the deposit cap limits?

If you're taking a tenancy deposit for a property in England, you must abide by the tenancy deposit cap. This is a key part of The Tenant Fees Act that came into force on 1 June 2019. Security deposits for new tenancies are capped at the equivalent of:

  • Five weeks' rent for assured periodic tenancies with an annual rent of up to £50,000.
  • Six weeks' rent for tenancies with an annual rent of £50,000 or more.

Use our deposit cap calculator to determine how much deposit you can take for your tenancy.

 
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Do you have the correct contact details for you tenant?

We use the details you enter for the tenant to send them confirmation the deposit is protected. We also use this information to create their account. They'll need to log in to take action on the deposit in the future so it's vital you use the correct details.

 
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Do you let properties in Wales?

The Welsh Government requires you to follow different regulations if you let properties in Wales. You can read the requirements on the Rent Smart Wales website. You can also read our summary of deposit protection specific differences.

 

Protecting a deposit in our Custodial scheme

Once you've created your account, you can start protecting deposits. To protect a deposit:

  1. Create a new tenancy in your online account.
  2. Add the tenancy details, including rent amount, deposit amount and contact information for each tenant.
  3. Pay the deposit to us.

Once we receive the deposit, we'll send you confirmation it's protected. We'll also use the contact details you provide to send confirmation to the tenant and create Prescribed Information for you to complete and give to the tenant. You can find and download this in the tenancy within your account.

 

Do you have several deposits to protect?

When you're letting several properties every week, deposit protection administration can become time-consuming. Our Multiple Tenancy Upload tool lets you add several properties and create multiple tenancies in one go. Follow these simple steps to speed up your deposit protection administration.

  1. Download our Multiple Tenancy Upload tool.
  2. Add each new tenancy to the spreadsheet, one row per tenancy.
  3. Send your completed spreadsheet to bulkuploads@depositprotection.com.
  4. We'll send you confirmation the tenancies have been created. This will include the value of the tenancy deposits and their payment reference. Use this payment reference when making your bank transfer. This allows us to automatically allocate the money to the relevant deposits.
  5. If you need to manually allocate a payment to deposits, you can do this through your online account. In your account dashboard:
    • select 'allocate funds'
    • select the payment and deposits
    • confirm allocation.

Multiple Tenancy Upload tool

 
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Creating tenancies using our API

If you use CRM software to manage your deposits, our API can connect your CRM solution directly to our deposit protection platform, making it faster and simpler to register and pay your tenant deposits. Our API solution is integrated with 10Ninety, Acquaint, AgentOS, Estates IT, Flatfair, GNB, Goodlord, PayProp, SME, and Yorlet.

 

Our partners

At a click of a button it uses the tenancy information you've already entered into your CRM software to create the tenancy in your DPS account. Once you've created the tenancy, then simply login and pay us the deposit. To request your API key and get started, or for any other questions about using API, email api@depositprotection.com.

Transferring deposits from your existing deposit protection provider

There are 2 methods to transfer deposits:

  • You create the tenancy.
  • Your current scheme sends us the information.

If you create the tenancy:

  1. If you haven't already done so, create your DPS Custodial account.
  2. To transfer the deposit to us, you'll first need to create the tenancy in your DPS account. We'll then provide you with a deposit ID.
  3. Send your existing provider the:
    • Deposit ID
    • Payment reference you create
    • Unique DPS sort code and account number (you can find these by selecting 'pay by bank transfer')
  4. Contact your existing provider to arrange the transfer.
  5. Once the transfer to our system is complete, the deposit status will change to 'Deposit Protected' and we'll send you confirmation.

If your current scheme sends us the deposit information:

  • Create your DPS account.
  • Send your unique DPS bank account details to your existing provider (You can find your unique bank details on the payment summary page).
  • Ask your current scheme to transfer the deposit money using the details you've given them.
  • We'll create the tenancy and update the deposit status when the money is received and allocated to the tenancy.

Protecting a deposit in our Insured scheme

Before you protect a deposit in our Insured scheme, have you set up your Insured account? You need a separate DPS Insured account to use this scheme, even if you already have a DPS Custodial account.

 
To protect deposits using our Insured scheme, log into your online account.
  1. Add the property to your account or select a property you've already added.
  2. Select ‘Deposits' then ‘Register new deposits'.
  3. Add the tenancy details:
    • Start date
    • End date (Following the implementation of the Renters Rights Act, though all tenancies are now Periodic, for the time being, we’ll need to capture an expected end date for the tenancy. We suggest entering a date six months in the future. Each day, we’ll update all new tenancies added to our Insured scheme to a Periodic status.)
    • Rental amount
    • Deposit value
    • Date deposit received from tenant
  4. Add contact details for each tenant:
    • Title
    • First name
    • Last name
    • Mobile number
    • Other telephone number
    • Email address

The tenant details you add first will be designated as the ‘lead tenant'. They'll be responsible for dealing with any actions required regarding the deposit.

It's essential you provide accurate information for the tenants. We use this information to contact them about the deposit.

Once the tenancy and deposit are registered, you'll be automatically directed to the payment page. Here you can select to pay the deposit via debit card or cheque.

If you've already added your tenancy and still need to pay the deposit, follow these steps:
  • In your online account, select 'Deposits' then 'Pay for your deposits'.
  • Select payment type (Debit Card or Cheque).
  • Pay the deposit.
  • The deposit is protected once your payment has cleared in our account.

Once you've registered the deposit and sent your payment, you must send Prescribed Information to your tenants.

If you've completed a Direct Debit Mandate, your deposits will be protected immediately and payment taken by Direct Debit.

How much does Insured deposit protection cost?

Fee per deposit
Landlords

£18.75
For deposits under £500

£27.75
For deposits of £500 or more
Letting Agents

£11.75 (+VAT)

Prescribed Information

Your deposit protection obligations don't end with paying the deposit to us. You also need to serve the Prescribed Information (or Required Information if you're letting a property in Wales), a specific set of legal details relating to a tenancy. You must send this to your tenants within 30 days of receiving the deposit, or you could be penalised between one and three times the amount of the deposit.

Prescribed Information includes the following details:
  • The amount of the deposit
  • The address of the property
  • The name, address and contact details of the administrator of the tenancy deposit scheme with which the deposit is held
  • The name, address and contact details of the landlord and tenants and any third parties who have contributed to the deposit

To help you, we've produced a downloadable Prescribed Information template. (If you're using our Insured scheme, you'll need our Insured Prescribed information template).

Frequently asked questions​​​​​​​

  • You're required to protect any deposit money within 30 days of receiving it. Individual or instalment payments can be added to the existing deposit. You can select the tenancy and then select ‘Pay additional deposit' and follow the instructions. You'll also need to provide updated Prescribed Information.

  • If a deposit has been protected in our Custodial scheme for 183 days or more, the interest becomes payable to your tenants. This will be paid to them at the end of the tenancy, once the deposit repayment process is complete.

  • During the tenancy, the deposit remains the property of the tenant, so any interest accrued is payable to them.

  • No, even if the tenant agrees you're entitled to keep any of the deposit, all interest accrued is payable to the tenant.

  • If the money you’ve paid us hasn’t auto-allocated to your tenancies, you can do this manually through your online account. In your account dashboard:

    • select 'allocate funds' 
    • select the payment and deposits
    • confirm allocation.