Prescribed Information for Northern Ireland Tenancy Deposits

The Second Deadline Most Landlords Miss

Protecting a deposit in an approved scheme within 28 days is only half the job. Under Article 5B(6)(b) of the Private Tenancies (Northern Ireland) Order 2006, you must also serve the prescribed information on the tenant within 35 calendar days of receiving the deposit.

These are two separate statutory duties with two separate deadlines. Completing one does not satisfy the other. A deposit protected on Day 14 with prescribed information served on Day 40 means you met the first deadline and breached the second.

What the Prescribed Information Must Include

Schedule 1 of the Tenancy Deposit Schemes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 sets out the mandatory disclosures:

• Property details — the full address of the rented dwelling
• Deposit sum — the exact amount received and protected
• Scheme operator information — name, address, phone number, and email of TDS NI or mydeposits NI
• Landlord or agent contact — name, address, phone number, and email
• Overseas landlord clause — if you live outside Northern Ireland, you must provide a physical contact address within NI
• Tenant and relevant person details — full names and contact details of all joint tenants and any third-party deposit payers (guarantors, parents, charities)
• Deductions and retention terms — the specific contractual circumstances under which you may retain some or all of the deposit
• Dispute procedures — instructions on accessing the scheme's alternative dispute resolution service under Regulation 31

You must also attach the scheme administrator's official explanatory leaflet, produced under Regulation 37. Both TDS NI and mydeposits NI provide this leaflet through their portals. Download the current version — do not use an old one from a previous tenancy. Scheme terms change, and serving an outdated leaflet weakens your compliance position.

Finally, the prescribed information must include a declaration signed by the landlord or agent and a countersigned acknowledgement from the tenant.

How to Serve It

The regulations do not specify a single mandatory delivery method, but your proof of service matters enormously. If a tenant disputes that they received the information, the burden falls on you to prove it.

In person: Hand physical copies to the tenant. Get them to sign and date a written endorsement on your copy: "I acknowledge receipt of the Prescribed Information and official scheme leaflet on [date]."

Royal Mail Signed For or Special Delivery: Keep the recorded delivery slip and the delivery confirmation tracking receipt permanently in your tenancy compliance file.

Email: Permissible only if the tenancy agreement explicitly authorises electronic service of statutory notices and provides a designated tenant email address. Retain the email transmission record and any read receipt or delivery confirmation.

Whichever method you choose, the evidence must show the date of delivery and that the tenant (and any relevant third-party payer) actually received the documents. A dated proof-of-delivery log is essential.

Prescribed Information vs Deposit Protection Certificate

These are different documents. The Deposit Protection Certificate confirms that the deposit is registered with an approved scheme — it satisfies the 28-day protection requirement. The prescribed information is a broader disclosure that includes scheme details, deduction terms, and dispute procedures — it satisfies the 35-day information requirement.

Both TDS NI and mydeposits NI generate certificates and provide prescribed information templates through their portals. But the portal-generated version may not include all the tenancy-specific details required by Schedule 1 (particularly the deductions clause and the third-party payer details). Check that every required field is completed before serving.

What Happens If You Miss Day 35

Failure to serve prescribed information within 35 days is treated the same as failure to protect the deposit:

• Fixed Penalty Notice equal to three times the deposit amount
• Court prosecution with a summary fine up to £20,000
• Continuing offence — the breach accrues daily until rectified
• Your Notice to Quit rights are impaired

Serving late is still better than not serving at all — it stops the continuing offence clock. But late service does not erase the historical breach.

Building a Defensible Paper Trail

The prescribed information requirement is where landlords most often lose deposit disputes and enforcement actions. Not because they did not serve the information, but because they cannot prove when they served it. Our Northern Ireland Tenancy Deposits guide includes a printable proof-of-delivery log designed specifically for the Schedule 1 requirements, with space for tenant signatures and the dated receipt that adjudicators and council officers look for.

See more Northern Ireland guides →