Bonds and Deposits

A deposit is the same thing as a bond.  It is money that you hand over to your landlord to hold as security.  It is very common for private landlords to ask for a bond at the start of the tenancy. If you break the terms of your tenancy and it costs the landlord money to put it right, the landlord may be able to take the cost back from your bond.

 

For general information on what a bond is, and what you can do to protect your money, see: Shelter: Tenancy Deposits

 

 

An inventory is a list of everything that is in the property at the start of the tenancy. It should say what condition everything is in, for example if anything is broken or damaged.

 

An inventory can be very useful later on, if you have problems getting the bond back from the landlord. For example, if the landlord wants to keep the bond because the property has been damaged, the inventory can show if the damage was caused during the tenancy, or before the tenancy began.

 

For more information, see: Shelter: Making An Inventory

 

 

If your landlord wants to keep some or all of the bond at the end of your tenancy, you may need to take action to get your money back. There are different rules for how you do this, depending on when your tenancy started.

 

Under new rules from 6 April 2007, private landlords must protect their tenants’ bonds by using a Tenancy Deposit Scheme. These schemes should make it easier to deal with disputes over whether the landlord should return the bond at the end of the tenancy. For more information about Tenancy Deposit Schemes, see: Directgov: Tenancy Deposit Protection

 

The new rules affect Assured Shorthold Tenancies with private landlords. Assured Shorthold Tenancies include the vast majority of tenancies which are created in the private sector. The rules apply to:

 

 

For tenancies which are not covered by these rules, you may have to take court action against your landlord if they don’t return your bond to you. Housing Aid produces a leaflet with advice about how to do this. Phone (0114) 273 5450 for a copy or download the document below.

 

If you are not sure which rules apply to you, you should get more advice. For information about where to get housing advice, see the main Housing Aid webpage.