Deposits will need to be secured for every newly issued and/or renewed tenancy agreement, on or after the 6th April this year.

You can protect the deposit in 2 ways:

An insurance policy will attract a monthly premium, whilst the custodial scheme is free to both landlords and tenants.

If a landlord wants to recover the interest on custodial deposits, then he needs to have this written into his AST contract.

Note: This scheme is paid for out of the interest attracted by the deposits and so its unlikely that you will receive a high return on the money deposited.

To aid the speedy resolution of disputes, every tenant should be issued with a verified inventory detailing everything in the property, and its condition. Its important that the tenant signs every page on the inventory.

Assured Shorthold Tenancy
and Inventory Contract Packs

Deposits need to be protected within 14 days of receipt, and the tenant given details of how the money is being protected.

Deposit repayments needs to be made by the landlord within 10 days of the termination of the tenancy.

If there are disputes, then these need to be registered with The Dispute Service Ltd who will arbitrate between the tenant and landlord.

UK Government has awarded the following contracts

Computershare Investor Services Plc will run the single custodial Deposit Protection Scheme.

The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators will provide the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service.

The Dispute Service Limited (which will also run its own ADR scheme) and Tenancy Deposit Solutions administer the insured schemes.

The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators will provide the ADR service for Tenancy Deposit Schemes.

Further information is available from the Deposit Protection Service