How much deposit can a landlord take in the UK?

For most assured shorthold tenancies in England, a deposit is capped at five weeks of rent. Where the annual rent is £50,000 or more, the cap is six weeks. The landlord must protect the money in a government-approved scheme and tell you which one within 30 days of receiving it.

Five weeks, not one month

A common mistake is to treat the cap as a month. Five weeks of rent is more than one month, so on rent of £2,000 a month the cap is about £2,308, not £2,000. Work it out from the weekly rent rather than the monthly figure.

What deposit protection means

Your deposit is held in one of the government-backed schemes rather than by the landlord personally. You should receive the scheme name, the amount protected and how to get it back. If you do not receive this within 30 days, that is a serious failure on the landlord's part and worth raising early.

What can be taken from it at the end

Unpaid rent, damage beyond fair wear and tear, and cleaning costs where the property is returned worse than you found it. Normal wear is not deductible. The inventory taken at the start is what disputes are decided on, so photograph everything on the day you move in.

A holding deposit is a different thing

A holding deposit reserves the property while checks are done and is capped at one week of rent. It is normally put towards your first rent or your deposit. It can be kept if you give false information or withdraw, so be accurate on the application form.

How this interacts with a guarantor

A guarantee is not a deposit and does not replace one. We guarantee unpaid rent, not damage, and the deposit is still the landlord's protection for the condition of the property. Some tenants are offered a deposit replacement product as well. Treat that as a separate decision, and never as a condition of getting a guarantor.