Yeehlow

When you decide to rent a property, in all likelihood your landlord will ask for a deposit as a form of insurance against damages or just as a pledge for your contract. It usually corresponds to the value of one or two months’ rent.

What many renters don’t know, though, is that In the UK deposits are strictly regulated and both tenants and landlords should comply with particular dispositions. Yeehlow put them all together in order to give you a useful overview about where the money goes, how to make sure your money is correctly protected and, eventually, how to retrieve it without disputes.

First of all, after you’ve agreed on the amount of the deposit, the landlord must protect your money within 30 days through a Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDP). In England and Wales the deposits can be registered with either the Deposit Protection Service, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme or MyDeposit. These agencies will make sure your money is safely stored and saved.

The landlord should also provide his/her tenants with clear (possibly, written!) information about the amount of deposit paid, the contact details of the deposit protection scheme used and the rules adopted by it, including proper documentation about how to get the money back and what terms will apply in the case a misunderstanding of any sort should arise. This information must always be signed by the landlord or agent you paid your deposit to.

On Yeehlow, tenants can easily download all their rent deposit paperwork at the touch of a button!

If you’re uncertain about the state of your deposit you can check whether your landlord is properly protecting it by visiting the TDS website and supplying some information about the property you’re staying in (postcode, tenancy start date, name and surname etcetera.) If a landlord has not stored a deposit in a TDS after 30 days from the beginning of the contract this can lead to penalties, and renters on an assured shorthold tenancy are allowed to ask for a compensation of 1 to 3 times the total agreed amount. You can find out more about deposit compensation claims at this link: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_compensation_claims

After the end of a contract, tenants are entitled to retrieve the full amount of the deposit. Of course, a core condition for that to happen is leaving the property in a good state. A good idea to remove all doubts can be to take pictures of the property at the beginning of the tenancy and then compare them with the conditions of the property at the moment of leaving.

Landlords must return the deposit within 10 days of you both agreeing on the terms of the refund. Generally, in the case of disagreements the TDP will offer a free disputes resolution service.