TDS Deposit Protection: Registration Steps, Costs, and Prescribed Information

What the TDS Is

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme — TDS — is one of England's three government-authorised deposit protection schemes, operated by The Dispute Service Limited. Like the DPS and mydeposits, it offers both custodial and insured protection. Any landlord taking a security deposit for an assured tenancy in England must protect it with one of these three schemes within 30 calendar days of receiving the funds, under Sections 212–213 of the Housing Act 2004.

The TDS is particularly popular with landlords who value its Prescribed Information template — the TDS portal generates a pre-populated form that includes most of the mandatory fields, making the statutory service step less error-prone than starting from scratch.

Custodial vs Insured at TDS

Custodial (free) — You transfer the deposit directly to TDS. They hold the money in a ring-fenced statutory account until the tenancy ends. There is no fee, no membership, and no annual renewal.

Insured (paid) — You keep the deposit in your own bank account and pay TDS a per-deposit fee to insure it. Current pricing for non-members is approximately £18.50 for deposits up to £500 and £25.50 for deposits above £500. NRLA members and letting agents with TDS accounts receive discounted rates.

Unlike mydeposits (which moved to an annual membership model in July 2026), TDS charges a one-off fee per deposit, similar to the DPS insured model. For a single-property landlord who wants insured protection, TDS and DPS pricing are comparable.

Registration Walkthrough

1. Create a TDS account. Register on the TDS portal as an individual landlord, company landlord, or letting agent. You need your name, address, email, phone number, and — for the insured scheme — payment details.

2. Add the property. Enter the full address, property type, and tenancy start date.

3. Add every tenant. Full name, contact address, email, and phone number for each named tenant. If a third party paid the deposit (a parent, employer, guarantor, or local authority), they must be recorded as a relevant person.

4. Enter the deposit amount. The precise figure received. Verify it falls within the Tenant Fees Act cap — five weeks' rent for annual rent below £50,000, six weeks' rent for £50,000 and above. TDS does not enforce this cap on the portal.

5. Transfer funds or pay the fee. Custodial: transfer the deposit to TDS using the reference generated. Insured: pay the per-deposit insurance fee. Protection begins once funds or fees are confirmed.

6. Download the certificate and Prescribed Information template. TDS generates a Deposit Protection Certificate and a pre-populated Prescribed Information form. The form includes the scheme's contact details, the deposit amount, and the property address — but you must still review every field, add the deduction grounds from the tenancy agreement, and attach the TDS explanatory leaflet.

7. Serve the Prescribed Information. Complete the form and serve it on every tenant and relevant person within 30 calendar days of receiving the deposit. Hand-deliver with a signed receipt, or send by recorded post. Keep proof of service.

The TDS Prescribed Information Template

TDS is often cited as having the most structured PI template among the three schemes. The portal pre-fills several fields from your registration data, reducing the risk of blank or incomplete entries. However, the template alone is not enough:

• You must add the specific contractual deduction grounds from the tenancy agreement — generic wording like "damage" is insufficient; the grounds must match the tenancy contract
• The TDS explanatory leaflet must be included with the form when served
• Every tenant receives their own copy, and every relevant person (third-party payer) receives theirs
• You need proof of service — a signed acknowledgement or recorded delivery receipt

The pre-populated template is a useful starting point, but courts do not accept "I downloaded the certificate" as proof of service. The landlord must demonstrate that the complete package — form, leaflet, and tenancy-specific deduction grounds — reached every required person within the 30-day window.

How TDS Handles Disputes

At the end of the tenancy, if landlord and tenant agree on deductions, TDS releases funds within 10 calendar days. If there is a disagreement, TDS offers free Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Both parties must consent to ADR. The evidence submission window is typically 10–14 days for tenants and 14–20 days for landlords. Adjudicators make binding decisions based on written evidence — inventories, photographs, invoices, and the tenancy agreement — usually within 28 to 42 days.

If either party refuses ADR, the dispute must be resolved through County Court proceedings.

The single most important factor in a successful deduction claim is a detailed, dated check-in inventory matched against a check-out report. Without these, adjudicators have no baseline to assess damage claims.

Choosing Between TDS, DPS, and mydeposits

For custodial protection, the choice is largely a matter of portal preference — all three are free. For insured protection, the pricing models differ:

• TDS insured: one-off per-deposit fee (~£18.50–£25.50 for non-members)
• DPS insured: one-off per-deposit fee (~£18.75–£27.75)
• mydeposits insured: annual membership (capped ~£22/deposit/year; ~£18 for NRLA members)

If you want a one-off fee with no annual renewal, TDS or DPS insured are the simpler options. If you are an NRLA member managing multiple properties, mydeposits' discount may work out cheaper annually.

For the full comparison, see DPS vs mydeposits vs TDS. And for the complete deposit protection workflow from receipt to return — cap checks, scheme registration, PI service, deductions, and disputes — the Tenancy Deposit Protection guide walks through every step with dated worksheets and checklists.

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