Why This Is Worth Checking, Even If You Trust Your Landlord
Most tenants never think to check whether their deposit was actually protected — they simply assume it was, especially if the landlord seems reasonable or uses a letting agent. But protection failures are common, and they are not always deliberate. An agent might change management partway through a tenancy without transferring the protection correctly, or a landlord managing the property themselves might simply not be aware of the 30-day rule. Checking takes a few minutes and tells you exactly where you stand.
The Three Government-Approved Schemes
Every protected deposit in England and Wales sits in one of exactly three schemes. There is no fourth option — if your deposit isn't in one of these, it isn't protected.
- Deposit Protection Service (DPS) — the largest custodial and insured scheme, searchable by tenant details on their website.
- mydeposits — offers both custodial and insured protection, with an online search tool for tenants.
- Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) — the third government-approved provider, also searchable online.
What You'll Need to Search
To search each scheme, you'll typically need your name, the property address, and ideally your landlord's or agent's name. You don't need your tenancy agreement to do this — though it helps confirm the exact deposit amount and date it was paid, which is useful once you know whether it was protected.
What If You Can't Find It on Any of the Three?
If a search across all three schemes turns up nothing, that is a strong indication your deposit was never protected — which, on its own, is enough to bring a compensation claim for between one and three times the deposit amount. It's worth double-checking the exact spelling of names and address used, since a scheme search can miss a genuine registration over minor formatting differences, but a genuine "no result" across all three is a clear signal.
What If You Find It, But the Date Looks Late?
If you do find your deposit registered, check the date carefully against when you actually paid it. If registration happened more than 30 days after you paid the deposit, that is still a breach — late protection remains a valid basis for a claim, even though the deposit is technically protected now.
Rather not chase three separate scheme searches yourself? We check all three registers for you, cross-reference the dates against your tenancy, and tell you clearly whether you have a claim — free, with no obligation.