What you must do
The three core duties
If you take a deposit on a private tenancy in Northern Ireland, you have three distinct obligations:
- Protect the deposit in a NI government-approved scheme within 28 days of receiving it.
- Give the tenant the prescribed information about the scheme within 35 days of receiving the deposit.
- Do not take a deposit greater than one month's rent (for deposits requested or retained on or after 1 April 2023).
What changed — and when
The deposit-protection requirement applies to deposits taken on or after 1 April 2013.
The Private Tenancies Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 made three significant changes:
- Extended the deadline to protect a deposit from 14 to 28 days.
- Extended the deadline to give the tenant prescribed information from 28 to 35 days.
- Introduced a one-month rent cap on deposits, which came into effect on 1 April 2023.
The cap is not retrospective. If a deposit higher than one month's rent was agreed under a contract signed before 1 April 2023, that deposit may be retained. The cap applies to deposits requested or retained on or after 1 April 2023.
The one-month cap
The deposit you take must not exceed one month's rent. For a property let at a monthly rent, this is straightforward. Where rent is paid on a different basis, the equivalent is calculated as the daily rent multiplied by 30 — for example, for a weekly rent, divide the weekly amount by 7 to get the daily rate, then multiply by 30.
Approved deposit schemes
You must protect the deposit in a NI government-approved deposit protection scheme. Approved schemes operate on two models:
- Custodial schemes — the landlord pays the deposit into the scheme, which holds it for the duration of the tenancy at no cost to the landlord.
- Insurance-based schemes — the landlord retains the deposit but pays a fee to the scheme, which insures against non-repayment. Fees vary by provider.
You must use an approved scheme — holding a deposit yourself or in an unapproved arrangement does not satisfy the requirement.
Prescribed information
Within 35 days of receiving the deposit, you must give the tenant written prescribed information. This includes — at a high level — details of which scheme is protecting the deposit, how to contact the scheme, how the tenant can raise a dispute about the return of the deposit, and the circumstances in which you might make deductions.
Penalties and enforcement
There are two separate penalty tracks:
Failure to protect or give prescribed information: If you do not protect the deposit in an approved scheme or do not give the tenant the prescribed information within the required time limits, you can face a fine of up to three times the amount of the deposit, or prosecution. Under the Private Tenancies Act (NI) 2022, this is a continuing offence — a landlord remains in breach for as long as the failure continues, even after the six-month point that would normally limit when proceedings can be brought.
Breaching the one-month cap: If you request or retain a deposit of more than one month's rent on or after 1 April 2023, the district council may issue a fixed penalty of up to £500.
Related obligation: Tenancy Information Notice
Separately from the deposit rules, the Private Tenancies Act (NI) 2022 also requires landlords to give tenants a written Tenancy Information Notice within 28 days of granting a tenancy. This is a distinct obligation — unrelated to deposit protection — and is not covered in full here.
All private landlords in Northern Ireland must also hold a valid registration with the Landlord Registration Scheme — another distinct obligation applying regardless of whether a deposit is taken.