Become a Member of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme

Any private landlord or agent offering residential property for rent is eligible to apply to join TDS. Prospective members will be asked to provide relevant information – as set out in the Rules of the Scheme – to determine if they can be accepted as members, and what their subscription will be.

Why join TDS?

The Scheme offers members a number of significant benefits:

• As an insurance based Scheme, you hold the deposit and only involve TDS in the event of a dispute.
• We are a cost effective and competitive scheme: we are the only not for profit Tenancy Deposit Scheme, which means that any surpluses made are put back into the business for the benefit of our customers
• We are an accountable scheme: two of our Directors are from RICS and NFOPP and we regularly attend meetings of landlords, tenants and agents groups up and down the country;
• We care about our members: we have a dedicated Member Relations team which has been set up to listen to the concerns of members and deal with them. We publish a monthly Members' newsletter;
• We meet the Government's key performance targets for all aspects of the scheme;
• We regularly carry out satisfaction surveys of agents landlords and tenants;
• We deliver a quality and independent adjudication service.

I’m a landlord – how can I join?

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Landlords

This is a pay as you go scheme, where you pay for deposit protections online as you register your tenants’ deposits. There are no annual fees or additional charges to raise a dispute.

You pay for each tenancy deposit you protect by credit or debit card and the fee covers you for the period of the tenancy agreement, including any same terms statutory periodic tenancy which arises at the end of the fixed term.

There are two ways to join the Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Landlords;

1. Via The Residential Landlords Association. This is marketed by the RLA as DepositGuard. Discounted rates are available for RLA members. If you are not a member of the RLA, you can find out more details about how to join and take advantage of these preferential rates by visiting http://www.rla.org.uk/join/join.shtml?ref=joinM

2. Direct with TDS by following this link

Membership requirements

In order to join The Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Landlords, landlords must;

• own the property for the deposit they wish to protect in England and Wales let on an AST;
• be named as the landlord on the relevant AST;
• protect no more than £100,000 of tenants’ deposits at any one time. (Members who wish to protect more than £100,000 of tenants’ deposits will be considered for entry to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Corporate Landlords).
• agree to be bound by the Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Landlord Membership Rules and the Rules for the Independent Resolution of Tenancy Disputes, for any deposit insured by the Scheme for which they are responsible.

For landlords joining the Scheme operating as a limited company, they must meet the requirements above and;

• be named as the director of a company domiciled in the UK and provide a full company name, address and contact details in the UK;

Corporate Landlord membership

If you are a landlord with over £100,000 of tenancy deposits then you should consider applying for corporate landlord membership. This is only open to landlords who satisfy at least two of the following requirements:

• Properties are owned by a company and not an individual
• Deposits held are over £100,000
• Total assets exceed £25,000,000

Corporate Landlord rates are individually underwritten by our insurers, so please fill in the application form below and submit with as much supporting information as possible. You can send your completed form through to member.relations@tds.gb.com. We will get back to you with an annual subscription calculation within ten working days.

Please note that this form is for corporate landlord applications ONLY.

Corporate Landlords Application Form

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Unipol Accredited Landlords

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Housing Associations

If you are a registered provider in England, then we have special rates available. Please contact us for more information on 0845 226 7837 or alternatively, fill out the application form below and send to member.relations@tds.gb.com. We will get back to you within two working days.

Housing Association Application Form

What happens when I am a member?

When you become a member, you will be able to register your tenancies on our online database. You’ll need to make sure your tenancy agreements contain the relevant clauses and Prescribed Information – but we’ll send you this information by email once your application has been approved.

Once registered, we will send to you by email a Tenancy Deposit Protection Certificate that you must send to your tenants together with our advisory leaflet entitled What is the Tenancy Deposit Scheme?.

In the event that there is a dispute over the apportionment of the deposit, you can refer the dispute to the Independent Case Examiner, who will resolve the dispute quickly and fairly, and for no additional charge.

Please note that we cannot deal with disputes submitted to us later than six months from the end of the tenancy (if the tenancy deposit was registered on or before the 5 April 2011). For new tenancy deposits registered on or after the 6 April 2011, the parties have three months after the lawful end of the tenancy within which to refer a dispute to us for consideration.