When must this deposit be protected?
Miss the legal deadline to protect a tenancy deposit and you can be ordered to pay the tenant up to three times the deposit. Enter the date you received the money and get your deadline, plus a calendar reminder. Free, no sign-up.
This is general information to help you stay on top of a deadline, not legal advice. Always confirm your obligations with your deposit scheme or a solicitor. Stead doesn't store anything you type here — the calculation runs entirely in your browser.
The 30-day rule, and what happens if you miss it.
If you take a deposit for a private tenancy in England or Wales (in England, an assured tenancy — assured shorthold before 1 May 2026), the law (Housing Act 2004, as amended) gives you 30 calendar days from the day you receive the money to do two things:
- Protect the deposit in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme.
- Give the tenant the "prescribed information" — the scheme details, the deposit amount, the property address, and how to get the money back at the end.
Both have to happen inside the same 30-day window. Protecting the money but forgetting the prescribed information still counts as a breach.
Miss it and a tenant can take you to the county court. The court must order you to repay the deposit (or protect it) and can order you to pay the tenant a penalty of one to three times the deposit. In Wales an unprotected deposit also blocks a no-fault (section 173) notice. In England the old rule blocking a Section 21 notice became historic when Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026 (Renters' Rights Act 2025) — but the penalty claim is unchanged, and a poor compliance record still counts against you in possession proceedings.
Scotland works to a longer window — 30 working days from the start of the tenancy — and uses its own approved schemes. Northern Ireland is 28 calendar days from receipt. The calculator above adjusts for whichever you pick.
The approved schemes.
England & Wales — the Deposit Protection Service (DPS), MyDeposits, and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). Each offers a free "custodial" option (the scheme holds the money) and a paid "insured" option (you hold it, they insure it).
Scotland — SafeDeposits Scotland, the Letting Protection Service Scotland, and mydeposits Scotland. All custodial.
Northern Ireland — TDS Northern Ireland, MyDeposits Northern Ireland, and the Letting Protection Service NI.
Pick one, register the deposit, and keep the certificate and the prescribed information you sent — that paperwork is what defends you if a tenant ever disputes it. Stead keeps all of it filed against the property, with renewal and end-of-tenancy reminders.
One deadline down. Stead tracks the rest.
Gas safety, EICR, EPC, deposit protection, right-to-rent — every landlord duty has its own clock. Stead keeps them all in one place, with reminders before each one bites and the documents filed against the right property.