Renting a home involves two different deposits, paid at two different stages, under two different sets of rules. Both are capped by law, both have strict deadlines, and both are explained on this page: what you pay, when it is protected, and exactly how you get it back — with every figure linked to the law it comes from.
A holding deposit reserves a property for you while your application is assessed. From the moment it is accepted, the property is taken off the market: no other holding deposit may be accepted for it, and it will not be offered to another applicant while your application is being considered.
It is not a fee. When the tenancy goes ahead, the money becomes part of what you were paying anyway; when it does not, it is refunded unless one of four narrow statutory circumstances applies. Those circumstances, and every deadline involved, come from the Tenant Fees Act 2019 and are set out in the steps alongside.
On a property at £1,200 per calendar month, one week’s rent is £276.92, so the statutory maximum is £276.92 and our holding deposit is £270 — one week’s rent rounded down to the nearest ten pounds. The exact figure is always shown on your application before you pay.
The holding deposit takes the property off the market for you while referencing and the right to rent check are carried out. It is capped by law at one week’s rent; ours is one week’s rent rounded down to the nearest ten pounds, and the exact figure is shown on your application before you pay. Only one holding deposit may be held for a property at a time, and where several adults are moving in, only the first applicant pays it.
Once the payment is received there are 15 calendar days, called the deadline for agreement, in which referencing is completed and the tenancy agreement is signed. If more time is genuinely needed, the deadline can be extended, provided everybody agrees the new date in writing before the original one passes.
When the tenancy goes ahead, the holding deposit is credited against your first rent payment or your tenancy deposit within 15 days of the tenancy being entered into, so it is never an additional cost. If you would rather have it returned instead, tell us before you sign.
Where the landlord decides not to let to you, the property is withdrawn, the deadline passes, or you are asked to accept terms that were not those agreed when you paid, the full amount is returned within 7 calendar days.
The law permits a holding deposit to be retained in four circumstances, and no others. In every case the reasons must be given to you in writing within 7 calendar days; where they are not, the deposit must be refunded in full. Open each card for the full rule and where it comes from.
The tenancy deposit is security for your obligations under the agreement: unpaid rent, damage beyond fair wear and tear, and items missing at the end. It is your money throughout. It must be protected in one of three Government-approved schemes in England — the Deposit Protection Service, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, or mydeposits — within 30 days of being received, and you must be given the prescribed information about it within the same 30 days.
We use the Deposit Protection Service under their Insured scheme, holding the deposit as the landlord’s agent on a fully managed tenancy. On a let only tenancy the landlord holds and protects the deposit themselves. Your prescribed information states which applies to you, and each scheme’s website lets you confirm your own deposit is protected without going through us.
Normally five weeks’ rent, paid alongside your first rent payment, with your holding deposit credited towards it. The law caps it at five weeks’ rent, or six where the annual rent is £50,000 or more, and no more may be requested for any reason.
On a fully managed tenancy we protect it with the Deposit Protection Service under their Insured scheme. On a let only tenancy the landlord holds the deposit and protects it themselves within the same 30 days. Either way it is not the landlord’s money and it is not ours: it is held, not spent.
Within the same 30 days you are given a document stating the scheme, the amount, the property, everybody’s contact details, the circumstances in which money may be retained, and how a disagreement is resolved. We serve it with your tenancy agreement, prefilled, and you sign to confirm the details. Keep it: it is what you need to claim your money from the scheme directly.
The deposit stays protected for as long as the tenancy continues, including after it becomes periodic. Nothing may be taken from it while you live at the property: arrears and damage during the tenancy are dealt with at the time.
At the end, the property is inspected against the inventory and schedule of condition taken when you moved in. You are welcome to attend, and we recommend that you do. The inventory is the document that decides most deposit disputes.
Where there is nothing to deduct, it comes back in full. Where a deduction is proposed, it is put to you in writing with the evidence. Once the amounts are agreed, the money is returned within 10 days; anything not in dispute is returned while the rest is decided.
Every proposed deduction must be evidenced against the inventory taken when you moved in and the check-out report taken when you left. If you disagree, the undisputed part of the deposit is returned to you straight away and the rest goes to the scheme’s free, independent adjudication, whose decision binds everybody. Where a deposit is not protected at all, or the prescribed information is not served, a county court may award you compensation of between one and three times the deposit.
This page is written for properties in England and is provided for information rather than legal advice. The statutory rules are in the Tenant Fees Act 2019, the Housing Act 2004 as amended, and the Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007, each as they stand after the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, in force since 1 May 2026. The Government’s booklet How to rent is the official checklist every tenant in England must be given. Your own tenancy agreement and prescribed information remain the documents for your tenancy.