#AskTDS: “I paid a deposit to my agent last week and didn’t receive a receipt. Is my deposit protected?”

This article has been written in response to a tenant’s query: “I paid a deposit to my agent last week and didn’t receive a receipt.  Is my deposit protected?”

You should be able to request a receipt for any payment/s that you make to an agent.  It may be worth contacting your agent to see if they are able to provide you with a copy of this for your records.   In relation to deposit protection, there are other documents that can confirm that your deposit has been correctly protected.

When you pay your deposit to your letting agent or landlord, you should be issued with the prescribed information and a scheme leaflet within 30 days of making that payment.  This will inform you of where your deposit is protected and how the relevant scheme works.  It will also advise you what happens to the deposit at the end of the tenancy, in the event the parties are unable to reach an agreement as to deductions.

With TDS you also have the option of going onto our website directly to check if your deposit is being protected with us.  The link below will take you to the webpage “Is my deposit protected with TDS?” where you can type in your tenancy deposit certificate code to locate your deposit protection information.  If you cannot locate your code, there is a button allowing you to search using your tenancy agreement information; this will ask for the deposit amount, the tenancy postcode, the surname of the listed tenant and your tenancy start date.

What is a tenancy deposit certificate?”

A tenancy deposit certificate is our version of a receipt to you to show that your deposit has been protected with us.  Provision of this certificate is not a requirement under the legislation, which is a common misconception; however we feel it is a good way of illustrating the protection of the deposit.  It also provides the tenant with their unique tenancy deposit code/reference which will allow them to review the details of their tenancy deposit protection as well as utilise the alternative dispute resolution service at the end of the tenancy, should it be needed.

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) is a government approved scheme for the protection of tenancy deposits; we offer both insured and custodial protection. We also provide fair adjudication for disputes that arise over the tenancy deposits that we protect.

TDS can only comment on the process for our scheme, other deposit protection schemes may have a different process/require different steps. Content is correct at the time of writing.