Deposit protection under the new tenancy rules

Deposit protection came through the Renters' Rights Act almost unchanged, which has led some agents to file it under "nothing to do". That is half right. The mechanics are the same. What happens when they are not followed is considerably sharper, because protection now sits between a landlord and their own property.

What deposit protection still requires

The duties are the familiar ones, carried over to the new assured periodic tenancies.

A deposit must be protected in one of the three government approved schemes within 30 days of receipt, and the prescribed information must be served on the tenant in the same window. Deposits already held on 1 May 2026 did not need re-registering when tenancies converted, and the tenancy paperwork, the EPC, the gas safety certificate and the EICR did not need reissuing either.

Adjudication is unchanged too. It is free, it is decided on documents by somebody who has never been to the property, and the burden of proving a deduction sits with the landlord. No site visit, no hearing, no opportunity to explain what a photograph was meant to show.

What is sharper than it was

Here is the part worth internal training time. A landlord cannot obtain a possession order on any section 8 ground, other than those for anti-social behaviour, unless the deposit was protected and the prescribed information served, or the deposit has been returned.

Under the old regime an unprotected deposit meant a penalty and a blocked section 21. Section 21 no longer exists, so the whole weight falls on section 8, which is now the only route. An administrative slip at the start of a tenancy can therefore stop a landlord recovering their property years later, when they want to sell or move in.

There is a second pressure point. Rent in advance is capped at one month after the agreement is signed, and nothing at all may be taken before it. Money once collected loosely as "a few months up front" no longer has anywhere legitimate to sit, which pushes more weight onto the deposit as the only real security, and more weight again onto the evidence that justifies keeping any of it.

Why the check-in report matters more than the deposit rules

Protecting a deposit correctly is administration. Keeping any of it is evidence, and that has not changed at all.

Tenancies now run indefinitely, so the gap between the check-in and the check-out can be five years rather than twelve months. Whatever was written and photographed on day one is the only fixed point in that period, and it has to still be legible to a stranger when the tenancy finally ends.

That puts three things beyond argument.

1. Condition has to be recorded item by item, dated and photographed, not summarised as "good order".
2. The check-out has to be readable against the check-in, in the same structure, or the comparison cannot be made at all.
3. Fair wear and tear has to be separated from damage in the report itself, because an adjudicator will do it anyway, and a claim that ignores it tends to lose the credible parts along with the weak ones.

None of that is new law. It is the same standard that has always decided disputes, applied over much longer tenancies, with a deposit that is now the only security there is.

Related: check-out reports now that no tenancy ends on a fixed date, and what letting agents must do differently since 1 May.

Emilecon writes independent check-in, check-out and interim reports across every London postcode, photographed and timestamped line by line, delivered within 3 hours of the visit. If a notice has landed and a check-out is due, send the details and a time is agreed with you.

Sources: what the Act means for deposit protection from the NRLA, the Renters' Rights Act: an overview for landlords on GOV.UK, and key provisions from LexisNexis. This is general information, not legal advice.