.png){kind=small}
You’ve probably seen headlines about the Renters’ Rights Act by now. Unsurprisingly, most of the information out there is aimed at landlords, and most of it tries to cover the entire Act in one go: pet rights, a new ombudsman, discrimination rules, the lot. That’s not what this post is about.
What we’re interested in is what the new laws mean for your tenancy deposit. Because while the deposit protection rules themselves don’t change, the world around them shifts on May 1st, and almost nobody is explaining that to renters.
The Renters’ Rights Act in 60 seconds
The Renters' Rights Act received Royal Assent back in October, and the first major wave of changes takes effect on May 1st, 2026.
- Section 21 "no-fault" evictions are abolished, and landlords can no longer evict you without giving a reason.
- All tenancies become rolling periodic tenancies; no more fixed terms. You can leave with two months' notice at any time.
- Rent in advance is capped at one month.
- Grounds for possession are being reformed. Landlords can still evict for specific reasons like rent arrears, selling the property, or moving back in, but only through the courts using Section 8.
Later phases will bring a national landlord register (the PRS Database), a private rented sector ombudsman, and updated property standards. But for deposits, the first phase is what matters.
We're not going to try to cover the whole Act here. GOV.UK has a comprehensive guide to the Renters' Rights Act if you want the full picture.
Deposit rules are mostly staying the same
The core deposit protection framework, the one that's been in place since the Housing Act 2004, survives the Renters' Rights Act intact.
The three government-approved deposit protection schemes are also staying the same: the Deposit Protection Service (DPS), the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), and MyDeposits. Your landlord still has to protect your deposit in one of these three schemes within 30 days of your tenancy starting. Landlords still have to give you the "prescribed information,” a document that tells you which scheme your deposit is in, how much was protected, and how the dispute process works.
The deposit cap stays the same, too. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, your deposit can't be more than five weeks' rent if your annual rent is under £50,000 (or six weeks if it's £50,000 or above). That hasn't changed.
And the way disputes are resolved hasn't changed either. If your landlord tries to keep some or all of your deposit and you disagree, you can use the free alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service provided by whichever scheme holds your deposit. An independent adjudicator reviews evidence from both sides and makes a binding decision. It's free, it doesn't require a solicitor, and the burden of proof sits on the landlord to justify any deductions. That process is the same from May 1st as it was before.
So if the rules themselves aren't changing, what is?
An unprotected deposit means no eviction
Under the old system, if your landlord failed to protect your deposit or didn't give you the prescribed information, they couldn't use Section 21 to evict you.
That was a meaningful penalty, but it wasn't the only tool available to them. They could still use the “fault-based” route under Section 8 to pursue evictions for things like rent arrears. However, many landlords used the Section 21 no-fault route over the Section 8 fault-based route, even if Section 8 grounds existed, because it was easier, requiring less paperwork and compliance to secure an eviction.
From 1 May, Section 21 doesn't exist anymore. Every eviction has to go through Section 8. The Renters’ Rights Act amends the Housing Act 2004 so that deposit compliance is now a prerequisite for the court to grant a possession order under almost all Section 8 grounds.
In practice, that means a landlord who hasn't properly protected your deposit or served the prescribed information can't get a court order to evict you for rent arrears, can't evict to sell the property, can't evict to move back in, and can't use most of the other possession grounds. The only exceptions are Ground 7A (serious criminal behaviour) and Ground 14 (antisocial behaviour).
For tenants, this means that deposit protection matters far more than it used to. If your landlord hasn't complied, they've essentially locked themselves out of the courts. That's a significant shift in leverage, and it's worth knowing about.
It's also worth knowing that landlords can fix the problem after the fact. If they protected your deposit beyond the 30-day deadline, they can still proceed with possession once it's sorted by restarting the Section 8 process.
An unprotected deposit also means compensation
If your landlord has failed to protect your deposit in one of the three approved schemes, or hasn't given you the prescribed information within 30 days, you have options.
You can apply to the county court for a compensation order. The court must order your landlord to repay the deposit, or protect it in a scheme, and give you the prescribed information. On top of that, the court must order mandatory compensation of between one and three times the deposit amount. The size of the penalty depends on the circumstances: protecting it a few days late might attract 1x the deposit, while complete non-protection over a long period can reach the full 3x.
You have six years from the date of the breach to bring a claim, so there's no rush. But it's worth acting on it if your deposit isn't protected, because the penalties are significant. On a £1,200 deposit, 3x compensation would be £3,600, in addition to getting the deposit itself back.
Your landlord can still claim against your deposit
One thing to be aware of: receiving compensation for non-protection doesn't stop your landlord from making their own claims against you for damage or rent arrears. These are legally separate. If you bring a claim, your landlord can counterclaim for any losses they say you've caused, and the court will deal with both at the same time.
In practice, though, the compensation penalty can be set off against whatever the landlord is claiming. So if your landlord says you've left the place dirty, there's some minor damage, and wants to claim £600 from your deposit — but you win a 2x penalty on a £1,200 unprotected deposit — the £2,400 award swallows their £600 counterclaim, and they still owe you £1,800.
That said, it works both ways. If your landlord turns up with detailed check-in and check-out reports with dated photos and cleaning receipts, the court will take that seriously, regardless of the deposit protection breach.
The stronger your own evidence — timestamped move-in photos, a check-in inventory, records of the property's condition when you left — the harder it is for a counterclaim to stick. Without that, you're relying on the landlord having weak or no evidence.
5 things to do before May 1st
None of this takes long. You could get through the lot in a single evening, and it's the kind of thing that's much easier to sort now rather than later.
1. Check your deposit is protected
You can search all three scheme websites using your name and postcode:
If your deposit doesn't appear in any of them, that's something your landlord needs to fix, and now you know what it means if they don't.
2. Dig out your prescribed information
This is the document your landlord or their agent should have given you within 30 days of taking the deposit. It covers which scheme is being used, the deposit amount, the property address, and how to raise a dispute. Check your email, your tenancy paperwork, and any letters from when you first moved in. If you can't find it, ask your landlord or agent to resend it and for proof of when they first sent it.
3. Make sure you have a check-in record
If your landlord provided an inventory when you moved in, save a copy somewhere accessible. If they didn't, you can create your own using Deposit Guard, which walks you through the property room by room and produces a timestamped PDF report.
Even if your landlord did provide an inventory, having your own evidence alongside it is worth doing. Landlord inventories vary wildly in quality — many hide issues that pre-exist your tenancy — and having your own dated, photographic record makes it harder for anyone to dispute what the place looked like when you got the keys.
The same applies on the way out. A Deposit Guard move-out report gives you a clear, dated record of the condition you left the property in. That's the evidence that counters the cleaning charge or the repainting bill that appears out of nowhere three weeks after you've handed back the keys. You don't need a check-in report to make a move-out report useful; both reports stand on their own as proof of how you received and left the place.
4. Keep your tenancy paperwork together.
Your Deposit Guard reports are stored securely in your account, but there's other paperwork that matters too: your tenancy agreement, the prescribed information from your landlord, any correspondence about repairs or property condition, and receipts for anything you've paid for.
Pull it all into one place, such as a Google Drive folder. Deposit disputes don't just come down to photos; they come down to the paper trail around them. Having everything in one place means you're not scrambling through three years of emails if something goes wrong at move-out.
5. Save your scheme info somewhere obvious
If you ever need to raise a dispute or check your protection status, you'll need to know which of the three schemes holds your deposit and what your reference number is. Both should be on the prescribed information your landlord gave you. Write them down in your notes app, pin the email, stick them in a Google Doc, wherever you'll actually be able to find them later. It takes 30 seconds now and saves you a frustrating search later.
Protect your deposit with Deposit Guard
Deposit Guard helps you create timestamped, room-by-room condition reports at move-in and move-out with your phone; the kind of evidence that actually holds up in a deposit dispute.
It takes minutes, costs less than a couple of pints, and produces a shareable report you can rely on if things go sideways later on.
Get started for free and only pay when you’re ready to generate your report.