How do I get my deposit back from my landlord?
Ask for your deposit in writing on the day your tenancy ends, and once you and your landlord agree the amount, the money must be back with you within 10 days. If your landlord goes silent, you don't have to wait them out: every deposit scheme runs a claim route that pays you without the landlord's agreement, and if the deposit was never protected at all, a county court can order the landlord to pay you 1 to 3 times the deposit on top of returning it. This guide walks through the exact steps, day by day, including what to do when the landlord simply stops replying.
2026 update - Renters' Rights Act 2025: The rules on rent rises have changed. Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 your rent can be increased only once a year, and only through a formal Section 13 notice. If the increase is above the going market rate you can challenge it at the First-tier Tribunal, which cannot raise it any higher than the landlord proposed. Rental bidding wars are also being banned. The Act is being phased in across 2026. See our Renters' Rights Act 2025 guide.
How long does a landlord have to return my deposit?
Ten days. Government guidance is blunt about it: your landlord must return your deposit within 10 days of you both agreeing how much you'll get back. The clock starts at agreement, not at the end of the tenancy, which is why your first move matters so much: until you've formally asked for the deposit and the landlord has responded, that 10-day duty hasn't started running.
How the money physically moves depends on which type of protection your landlord used:
- Custodial schemes hold the deposit itself. You request repayment through the scheme's portal, the scheme asks the landlord to respond, and the scheme pays you directly once the amount is settled. The Deposit Protection Service (DPS) custodial scheme, TDS Custodial and mydeposits custodial all work this way.
- Insured schemes let the landlord keep the money and insure it instead. You ask the landlord directly, and the scheme only steps in if there's a dispute. If the landlord won't engage, the scheme's rules still let you force the issue.
If deductions are proposed and you dispute some of them, the undisputed part should still be released to you while the contested amount stays protected in the scheme. A landlord who holds your whole deposit hostage over one disputed item is not following the rules. Our deposit disputes guide covers what deductions are legitimate and how to fight the ones that aren't.
One thing this guide doesn't cover: money you paid to reserve the property before signing. That's a holding deposit, capped at one week's rent under different rules, and our holding deposits guide explains when it must be refunded.
What should I do when my landlord goes quiet? A day-by-day plan
Don't wait and hope. Each stage of silence opens a new option, and the schemes have built specific procedures for landlords who don't reply. Here's the timeline, assuming your tenancy has ended and you've left the property:
| When | What to do | |---|---| | Day 0 (tenancy ends) | Request the deposit in writing. Email is fine. State the amount, your forwarding address and bank details, and ask for a response within 10 days. If your deposit is in a custodial scheme, also submit a repayment request through the scheme's portal | | Day 10 | Chase in writing. Point to the government guidance that deposits must be returned within 10 days of agreement, and say you'll use the scheme's claim process if you hear nothing within a further 7 days | | Day 14 | DPS custodial deposits: you can start the Single Claim Process, which pays you without the landlord's agreement. mydeposits: the statutory declaration route typically opens around now too | | Day 15 working days from your repayment request | TDS Custodial: you can use the absent party payment procedure if the landlord hasn't responded | | By month 3 | Scheme dispute deadlines are short, often around 3 months from the end of the tenancy depending on the scheme, so get any scheme claim or dispute in well before this | | Up to 6 years | The county court backstop. You typically have 6 years to sue for the deposit, and for the 1 to 3 times penalty if it was never protected |
Keep every message. The paper trail of you asking and the landlord not answering is exactly what the scheme claim processes and the courts want to see.
Your day 0 request doesn't need to be clever. Four sentences do it: the tenancy at [address] ended on [date], you're requesting return of the £[amount] deposit, here are your bank details, please respond within 10 days. Send it to the landlord and the letting agent if there is one. If you only ever dealt with an agent and don't know who actually holds your tenancy, our guide on how to find out who your landlord is covers the legal routes to get their name and address.
What if my landlord ignores my deposit request completely?
If your deposit is protected, the scheme can pay you without your landlord lifting a finger. Each of the three schemes runs a formal route for exactly this situation, and none of them requires the landlord's cooperation. What each route is called, and what you'll need:
| Scheme | What they call it | When you can use it | What you'll need | |---|---|---|---| | DPS (custodial) | Single Claim Process | Landlord can't be contacted or hasn't responded 14 calendar days after the tenancy ended | A statutory declaration stating the amount claimed and why, witnessed by a solicitor, Commissioner for Oaths or magistrate. DPS then gives the landlord 14 calendar days to object before paying you | | TDS Custodial | Absent party payment procedure | No response to your repayment request after 15 working days (TDS formally invites the other party to respond within 30 working days) | Your repayment request through the TDS portal, then the absent party paperwork TDS sends you | | mydeposits | Statutory declaration (single release) | Request the deposit in writing and give the landlord 10 days; if there's no reply after around 14 days you can start the declaration route | A statutory declaration witnessed by a solicitor, commissioner of oaths or magistrate, uploaded via your portal; the landlord then gets a further 14-day window |
A statutory declaration sounds intimidating but is a one-page sworn statement. Many high-street solicitors witness them for a small fixed fee, often £5 to £10, and the scheme provides the form. Once your declaration is in and the landlord's final response window closes with no answer, the scheme pays out what you claimed.
Two practical points. First, put your best evidence in at this stage: the single claim routes are designed to decide the matter on what you submit, so include the tenancy agreement, proof you paid the deposit, your written requests and the check-in inventory if you have one. The tenancy inventory check guide explains why that document usually decides deposit arguments. Second, check the deadline. Scheme windows for raising disputes are often around 3 months from the end of the tenancy, far shorter than the court's 6 years, so a landlord who stalls you past the scheme deadline has cost you the free route. Don't let the silence run that long.
What if my deposit was never protected in the first place?
Then the silence may be worth more to you than the deposit. A landlord who takes a deposit on an assured tenancy in England or Wales must protect it in an authorised scheme within 30 days of receiving it, and give you the prescribed information about where it's held within the same 30 days, under section 213 of the Housing Act 2004. A landlord who ignores deposit requests has quite often skipped protection too.
Checking takes minutes and is free. Search all three schemes: the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), the Deposit Protection Service (DPS) and mydeposits, using your postcode, surname and tenancy start date. If nothing comes up in any of them, your deposit may never have been protected.
The penalty is one of the strongest tenant remedies in housing law. Under section 214 of the Housing Act 2004, a county court that finds the landlord failed to protect the deposit or serve the prescribed information must order the deposit repaid, and must also order the landlord to pay you between one and three times the deposit, within 14 days of the order. On a £1,200 deposit that's £1,200 to £3,600 on top of the deposit itself. The claim works after you've moved out, and prescribed-information failures count as well as straight non-protection. Where the penalty lands in the 1 to 3 range typically depends on how badly the landlord behaved, and a landlord who also ignored months of polite requests rarely comes across well.
If your landlord never protected your deposit, you may be entitled to compensation of 1 to 3 times the deposit - check free in 2 minutes.
Can I take my landlord to court for my deposit?
Yes, and for unprotected deposits it's the only route, because scheme claim processes only exist for deposits the schemes actually hold or insure. Court is also the backstop where a landlord refuses the scheme's dispute service or the scheme deadline has passed. The sequence:
- Send a letter before action. A formal letter giving the landlord 14 days to pay before you issue a claim. State the amount, the history of ignored requests, and that you'll add court fees and interest. A surprising number of silent landlords pay at this point, because the letter shows you're actually going to follow through.
- Issue the claim online. Money claims up to £10,000 usually run on the small claims track, which is designed for people without a solicitor. You can file through Money Claim Online and the form asks for a plain-English account of what happened.
- Pay the court fee, and claim it back. Fees scale with the claim: £35 for claims up to £300, £50 to £500, £70 to £1,000, £80 to £1,500, £115 to £3,000, £205 to £5,000 and £455 up to £10,000. If you win, the fee is typically added to what the landlord owes you.
- Enforce if needed. A judgment the landlord ignores can be enforced through bailiffs, attachment of earnings or a charging order. An unpaid county court judgment also sits on the landlord's credit record for 6 years.
The time limit is generous. The Limitation Act 1980 gives you 6 years for money claims, and that covers both the deposit itself and the section 214 penalty. A deposit wrongly kept in 2021 may still be claimable today. The scheme routes are faster and free, so use them first where they're open, but the court route doesn't expire quickly.
What changed under the Renters' Rights Act 2025?
The deposit rules you're relying on survived the biggest shake-up of renting law in a generation. Protection within 30 days, the prescribed information duty, the 10-day return convention and the 1 to 3 times penalty all still apply after the Renters' Rights Act 2025.
What the Act added is pressure on non-compliant landlords. The government's guide to the Act states landlords will be prevented from gaining possession if they haven't properly protected a tenant's deposit, so an unprotected deposit can now stall an eviction as well as ground a compensation claim (landlords can fix the breach, and the restriction doesn't apply to anti-social behaviour grounds). Since 1 May 2026, assured shorthold tenancies in England have also converted to periodic (rolling) tenancies, Section 21 no-fault evictions are abolished, and you can end your tenancy on 2 months' notice. The Act is still being phased in across 2026, so check the current position on any specific provision before relying on it.
For deposits, the practical effect is simple: a landlord sitting on an unprotected deposit now has two problems instead of one, and rather more reason to settle with you quickly.
The bottom line
A silent landlord is not a dead end. The 10-day return rule, the scheme claim routes that pay out without the landlord's agreement, the 1 to 3 times penalty for unprotected deposits and the 6-year court window all point the same way: the deposit is your money, and the system assumes so. Ask in writing on day 0, chase on day 10, start the scheme claim once the silence passes two weeks, and keep the court in reserve. There's more on every stage in our deposits hub.
If your landlord never protected your deposit, or has gone silent on returning it, you may be entitled to compensation of 1 to 3 times the deposit amount - check if you have a claim, free.