The landlord's deposit-protection checklist

Deposit protection is where careful landlords get caught. Not because the rules are hard, but because they're sequenced and deadline-driven. Miss a step and the consequences can include penalty awards and restrictions on regaining possession. Here is the discipline.

The sequence

• Take no more than the legal cap. For most tenancies, five weeks' rent (check the current thresholds on GOV.UK).
• Protect it in a government-approved scheme within the statutory deadline of receiving it.
• Serve the Prescribed Information to the tenant. Protection alone is not compliance.
• Keep proof of both: the certificate and evidence of service, dated.
• At renewal or material change, confirm whether re-service is required.
• At check-out, propose deductions with evidence. Inventory, photographs, invoices. Not assertions.

In a deposit dispute, the landlord with the boring, dated paper trail wins. Every time.

Under Full Management we run this sequence for you and hold the audit trail. If you self-manage, put the deadlines in your calendar the day the tenancy is agreed. Not the day the money arrives.

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