Launched to coincide with the ARLA Propertymark conference earlier this month, TDS has become the first Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme to introduce a range of free, online tools to help landlords and agents comply with incoming Deposit Cap legislation.

The Tenant Fees Act

As of 1 June 2019, landlords and letting agents in England will only be legally allowed to take the equivalent of five weeks’ rent as a tenancy deposit on annual rents below £50,000, and the equivalent of six weeks’ rent if the annual rent is £50,000 or more on new or renewed tenancies. Any landlords or letting agents in England found to be in breach of the new legislation could face a fine of up to £5,000.

At this time, the new regulations apply to new and renewed tenancies beginning on and following 1 June 2019.  Tenancies will only fall under the cap if they are renewed for a new fixed term. Tenancies that become contractual or statutory periodic tenancies will not be affected.

What’s included

TDS’ free suite of information and tools includes:

  • A free online Deposit Cap Calculator which is available for letting agents to embed in their own websites. To request the TDS Deposit Cap Calculator for your website, please contact info@tenancydepositscheme.com
  • Landlords and letting agents can use the TDS Custodial Deposit Cap Solution which is a new ‘edit deposit amount’ function where they can increase or decrease the deposit amount if they need to repay a deposit above the cap after the 1 June 2019.  If a new fixed term tenancy is created the landlord or letting agent can simply change the deposit amount down to the new five or six week level and TDS will sort out the repayments back to the lead tenant.
  • If the deposit has been reduced, a Deposit Protection Certificate in the new amount will be available in the member’s online account. As with the TDS Insured scheme no new Prescribed Information has to be issued in these circumstances.
  • A dedicated Deposit Cap Resource Centre which hosts a suite of information on the incoming legislative changes. DepositCap.com is a one-stop-shop for all the information landlords, letting agents and tenants need to fully prepare them for the introduction of the Act.

The Resource Centre includes the Deposit Cap Calculator, a graphical timeline, example scenarios, guides, information and other tools to help provide clarity on how the Deposit Cap will affect letting agents and landlords and how to reduce the deposit they hold whether they use TDS’ Insured or Custodial scheme.

To see the suite of tools, please visit the deposit cap website.