Prescribed information for a tenancy deposit: what it must say, and the 30-day deadline

In England and Wales, tenancy-deposit prescribed information is a statutory pack about the deposit, the scheme, the tenancy and the parties, and the key deadline is 30 days from receipt of the deposit. Scotland and Northern Ireland use separate deposit-protection rules, so the same words should not be treated as one UK-wide deadline.

What is the prescribed information for a tenancy deposit?

Prescribed information for a tenancy deposit in England and Wales is the statutory information a landlord must give the tenant and any relevant person about the authorised deposit scheme, the deposit, the property, the tenancy and the landlord’s signed certificate. The Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007 includes the scheme administrator’s details — “the name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and any fax number of the scheme administrator of the authorised tenancy deposit scheme applying to the deposit” — and also requires the scheme leaflet, tenancy and deposit details, repayment and dispute information, and a landlord certificate. Deposit prescribed information for TDS, mydeposits or DPS is not a separate legal species: the statute sets the content, while the chosen authorised scheme supplies scheme-specific information. The Housing Act 2004 also allows the information to be given “in the prescribed form or in a form substantially to the same effect,” so a perfect-looking template is less important than serving the complete statutory content.

How long do you have to serve the prescribed information?

In England and Wales, the landlord has 30 days beginning with the date the deposit is received to serve the prescribed information, and serving it two months later is still a breach of the 30-day duty. The Housing Act 2004 states that the prescribed information must be given “within the period of 30 days beginning with the date on which the deposit is received by the landlord.” Late service used to matter in two different ways: it could expose the landlord to a deposit-penalty claim, and it could affect whether a section 21 notice could be used. The timing point should not be confused with the old section 21 bar: the bar for missing prescribed information referred to compliance with the form requirement, not the 30-day timing requirement, so late but correct information could cure that particular bar while still leaving the original breach. In Scotland the deadline is 30 working days from the beginning of the tenancy; in Northern Ireland it is 14 days to notify the scheme administrator and 28 days to inform the tenant.

Whose responsibility is the prescribed information, the landlord's or the agent's?

The prescribed-information duty is the landlord’s statutory responsibility, even if a letting agent protected the deposit under the agent’s own scheme membership and handled the paperwork. Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 names the landlord, not the agent: “A landlord who has received such a tenancy deposit must give the tenant and any relevant person such information relating to—”. Government guidance may say “You (or your letting agent) must put your tenants' deposit in the scheme within 30 days of getting it,” but that is about practical handling of protection, not a transfer of the statutory duty away from the landlord. In practice, the agent may owe the landlord contractual or professional duties if the agent failed to serve the prescribed information properly, but the tenant’s statutory deposit claim is aimed at the landlord. The same broad pattern appears in Scotland and Northern Ireland: the rules place the deposit and information duties on the landlord by name.

Does the prescribed information need to be signed?

The landlord’s prescribed-information certificate must be signed, but the tenant does not have to sign it for the prescribed information to be valid. The 2007 Order requires “confirmation (in the form of a certificate signed by the landlord) that—” the information is accurate and that the tenant has been given the chance to sign. The tenant-signature point is narrower than many prescribed-information forms make it look: the rule requires the landlord to confirm that “he has given the tenant the opportunity to sign any document containing the information provided by the landlord under this article by way of confirmation that the information is accurate to the best of his knowledge and belief.” That means a tenant who refuses, forgets or fails to return a signed prescribed-information form has not automatically invalidated service. The risk for the landlord is failing to sign the landlord certificate, failing to give the opportunity, or failing to serve the statutory information at all.

Where do you get a prescribed information template?

You get a prescribed-information template from the deposit scheme you used, not from a single government-issued universal template. The statutory scheme is built around the authorised scheme’s own material: the 2007 Order requires “any information contained in a leaflet supplied by the scheme administrator to the landlord which explains the operation of the provisions contained in sections 212 to 215 of, and Schedule 10 to, the Act;”. That is why a mydeposits prescribed information template, a TDS prescribed information form and a DPS form are not interchangeable branding exercises; each reflects the rules and contacts of the scheme actually holding or insuring that deposit. Mydeposits says it “provides legal paperwork such as Prescribed Information for its landlord and letting agent members.” Abodient can hold the deposit amount, the scheme used and the tenancy documents against the lease record, which matters because prescribed information is only useful if the exact scheme paperwork can be found later.

Can you serve a Section 21 without the prescribed information?

Section 21 no longer exists in England — the Renters' Rights Act 2025 abolished it for assured tenancies from 1 May 2026. For the historical England position, and for any tenancy where the old section 21 rules still had to be analysed, the Housing Act 2004 created two separate deposit barriers: “no section 21 notice may be given in relation to the tenancy at a time when the deposit is not being held in accordance with an authorised scheme,” and, separately, no notice could be given “until such time as section 213(6)(a) is complied with.” The second phrase mattered because section 213(6)(a) is the prescribed-form requirement, while the 30-day deadline sits in section 213(6)(b). So prescribed information served late could still cure the old section 21 information bar, but it did not erase the original 30-day breach or the possible deposit penalty. This England answer should not be treated as a statement of the current Welsh position.

Is TDS itself a legal requirement?

TDS itself is not a legal requirement; the legal requirement is to use an authorised tenancy deposit scheme, and TDS is only one approved scheme option. The Housing Act 2004 says, for assured tenancies, that “Any tenancy deposit paid to a person in connection with an assured tenancy must, as from the time when it is received, be dealt with in accordance with an authorised scheme.” Government guidance for England and Wales says “You can use any of the following schemes if your property is in England or Wales:” before listing the approved providers, so a landlord does not have to choose the Tenancy Deposit Scheme brand if another authorised scheme is used correctly. The statute defines an authorised scheme by status, not by brand: “‘authorised’, in relation to a tenancy deposit scheme, means that the scheme is in force in accordance with arrangements under subsection (1)”. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own separate deposit-protection schemes.

Last reviewed September 2026.

Sources

• Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007 art.2(1)(a) — “the name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and any fax number of the scheme administrator of the authorised tenancy deposit scheme applying to the deposit” Source
• Housing Act 2004 s.213(6)(a) — “in the prescribed form or in a form substantially to the same effect,” Source
• Housing Act 2004 s.213(6)(b) — “within the period of 30 days beginning with the date on which the deposit is received by the landlord.” Source
• Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 reg.3(1) — “A landlord who has received a tenancy deposit in connection with a relevant tenancy must, within 30 working days of the beginning of the tenancy—” Source
• Tenancy Deposit Schemes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 reg.12(b) — “within 28 days of receipt of the deposit furnish the information specified in paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the tenant.” Source
• Housing Act 2004 s.213(5) — “A landlord who has received such a tenancy deposit must give the tenant and any relevant person such information relating to—” Source
• GOV.UK, Deposit protection schemes and landlords — “You (or your letting agent) must put your tenants' deposit in the scheme within 30 days of getting it.” Source
• Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007 art.2(1)(g)(vii) — “confirmation (in the form of a certificate signed by the landlord) that—” Source
• Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007 art.2(1)(g)(vii)(bb) — “he has given the tenant the opportunity to sign any document containing the information provided by the landlord under this article by way of confirmation that the information is accurate to the best of his knowledge and belief.” Source
• Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007 art.2(1)(b) — “any information contained in a leaflet supplied by the scheme administrator to the landlord which explains the operation of the provisions contained in sections 212 to 215 of, and Schedule 10 to, the Act;” Source
• Mydeposits, The law — “mydeposits provides legal paperwork such as Prescribed Information for its landlord and letting agent members.” Source
• Housing Act 2004 s.215(1) — “no section 21 notice may be given in relation to the tenancy at a time when the deposit is not being held in accordance with an authorised scheme.” Source
• Housing Act 2004 s.215(2) — “no section 21 notice may be given in relation to the tenancy until such time as section 213(6)(a) is complied with.” Source
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 commencement regulations, S.I. 2026/421 — “come into force on 1st May 2026 for the purposes of assured tenancies that are not social housing assured tenancies only—” Source
• Housing Act 2004 s.213(1) — “Any tenancy deposit paid to a person in connection with an assured tenancy must, as from the time when it is received, be dealt with in accordance with an authorised scheme.” Source
• GOV.UK, Deposit protection schemes and landlords — “You can use any of the following schemes if your property is in England or Wales:” Source
• Housing Act 2004 s.212(8) — “‘authorised’, in relation to a tenancy deposit scheme, means that the scheme is in force in accordance with arrangements under subsection (1)” Source
• GOV.UK, Tenancy deposit protection — “There are separate TDP schemes in Scotland and Northern Ireland.” Source