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 — and you lose the right to serve a Section 21 notice. 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 an assured shorthold tenancy in England or Wales, the law (Housing Act 2004, as amended by the Localism Act 2011) 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. On top of that, you can't serve a valid Section 21 no-fault possession notice while the deposit is unprotected — so a late deposit can quietly block an eviction months later.
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.