Does my deposit have to be protected if I live in an HMO?
Yes. Living in a house in multiple occupation doesn't change the deposit rules at all. A deposit paid in connection with an assured tenancy must be dealt with through an authorised scheme from the time the landlord receives it, under section 213 of the Housing Act 2004. The landlord must meet the scheme's initial requirements within 30 days of receiving your money, and give you the prescribed information within the same 30 days. That applies whether you rent a whole shared house jointly with friends or a single room on your own agreement.
The three authorised schemes in England and Wales are the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), the Deposit Protection Service (DPS) and mydeposits. If you don't know which one holds yours, check all three online with your postcode and tenancy dates; it takes minutes, and HMO tenants are exactly the group where protection gets missed.
For context, your home counts as an HMO under the Housing Act 2004 standard test when people from more than one household live there as their main residence, pay rent, and share a basic amenity such as a kitchen, bathroom or toilet; government guidance summarises this as three or more tenants forming more than one household, sharing facilities. Nothing about that status weakens your deposit rights, and where the property needs a licence, the landlord's obligations only stack higher.
How much deposit can an HMO landlord take?
The cap comes from the Tenant Fees Act 2019: five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, six weeks' at £50,000 or more, with one week's rent calculated as the annual rent divided by 52. The cap applies to the rent on your tenancy, so on a room-only agreement it's five weeks of your room's rent, and on a joint tenancy it's five weeks of the whole property's rent, shared between you however you've agreed among yourselves.
Holding deposits, paid to reserve a room before you sign, are capped separately at one week's rent, with tight refund rules; our holding deposits guide covers those.
Joint tenancy or room-only: does it change my deposit?
It changes the practicalities more than the law. On a joint tenancy, one deposit usually covers the whole household, and the scheme records it against the tenancy as a whole, often with a lead tenant administering it. The catch is joint liability: deductions for damage in a housemate's room or unpaid rent from one sharer can come out of the collective pot, leaving you to recover your share from each other. Keep your own records of who paid what.
On a room-only agreement, your deposit relates to your room and your conduct, which insulates you from your housemates' damage, though common-area deductions can still be argued over. Either way the protection, information and dispute rules are identical.
Whoever holds the tenancy, deductions can't be used to pass the landlord's own obligations onto you. Repairs to the structure, exterior and the water, gas, electricity, sanitation and heating installations are the landlord's job under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and in an HMO the manager also owes duties to keep common parts in repair under the 2006 management regulations. A worn stair carpet in a five-person shared house is wear and tear, not a deduction.
What if my HMO deposit was never protected?
You have real leverage. Under section 214 of the Housing Act 2004, a county court must order an unprotected deposit to be repaid or protected, and must order the landlord to pay you between one and three times the deposit on top, within 14 days of the order. The claim also covers failures to give the prescribed information, and it survives the end of the tenancy, so former sharers can claim too.
Since 1 May 2026 there's a second lever: under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, a court generally can't grant a landlord possession of an assured tenancy while the deposit isn't properly protected or the information duties are unmet, except on the antisocial behaviour grounds or where the deposit has been returned. Unlicensed and badly run HMOs tend to be exactly the properties where deposits go unprotected, and the two failures can compound: an unlicensed HMO can separately expose the landlord to a rent repayment order of up to 2 years' rent.
How do I get my HMO deposit back at the end?
The process is the same as any tenancy, with a couple of shared-house twists:
- Document everything at move-in and move-out. Photograph your room and the common areas with timestamps. In an HMO, common-area condition is the classic dispute zone, since responsibility is diffuse.
- Agree the split with housemates before the landlord proposes deductions, if you're joint tenants. A united front settles faster.
- Push for the return. Official guidance says the deposit must be returned within 10 days of you both agreeing the amount. If the landlord goes silent, each scheme has a route: the DPS single claim process runs on a statutory declaration once the landlord has been unresponsive for 14 days after the tenancy ends, TDS allows an absent-party procedure after 15 working days of silence, and mydeposits uses a statutory declaration route after around 14 days without a reply.
- Dispute unfair deductions for free. Every scheme offers free alternative dispute resolution; both sides must agree to use it, and the adjudicator's decision is final. Claim windows are typically around 3 months from the end of the tenancy, so don't drift.
Our deposit disputes guide goes deeper on evidence and tactics.
The bottom line for HMO sharers
Same law, higher stakes. Deposits in shared houses go wrong more often because there are more people, more agreements and more landlords cutting corners at the cheaper end of the market. The rules, though, are unambiguous: protection within 30 days, prescribed information within 30 days, capped amounts, free disputes, and a one-to-three-times penalty when landlords don't bother.
If you're not sure your deposit was protected properly, our free deposit checker may help you find out where you stand.