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DPS Prescribed Information — and the Terms You Must Attach

Prescribed information for a deposit protected with the Deposit Protection Service. Names the DPS and its contact details, describes the right product, and prompts you to attach the terms and conditions that satisfy the leaflet requirement.

Want the rules explained rather than the document?Deposit Prescribed Information: What Landlords Must Serve Within 30 Days — the deadlines, the notice periods and what invalidates them.
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When you need this document

If your tenant’s deposit is protected with the Deposit Protection Service, the prescribed information you serve has to describe that scheme — its contact details, its dispute service, and the documents the DPS specifically requires you to hand over. Prescribed information that names no scheme, or names the wrong one, does not discharge the duty in Section 213(5) of the Housing Act 2004.

The DPS is unusual in one respect that catches landlords out. There is no separate "DPS prescribed information leaflet" to hunt down. The 2007 Order requires information contained in a leaflet supplied by the scheme, and the DPS satisfies that with its Terms and Conditions. Its own forms say so: the custodial form tells you to provide a copy of the DPS terms and conditions alongside it, and the insured form requires them to be attached. Serve prescribed information without them and the package is incomplete.

Use this template for either DPS product. On the custodial scheme the DPS holds the money, protection is free, and the DPS generates prescribed information in your account for you to complete and serve. On the insured scheme you keep the money, you pay a protection fee for each deposit, and nothing is prepared for you.

Either way the clock is the same. Thirty days from the day the deposit reaches you — not from the day the tenancy agreement was signed. Miss it and the tenant can claim between one and three times the deposit under Section 214, and you lose most possession grounds until you put it right.

Who needs this document

You have just protected a deposit with the DPS custodial scheme
The DPS has created prescribed information in your account, but it does not serve it. Completing and sending it inside the 30 days is still on you, and the terms and conditions have to travel with it.
You hold the deposit yourself under DPS Insured
Nothing is prepared for you on the insured product. You have paid a protection fee and received a Deposit ID, and that is where the scheme’s help ends.
You are looking for the "DPS prescribed information leaflet"
There isn’t one under that name. The DPS terms and conditions are the leaflet the 2007 Order asks for, which is why landlords searching for a separate document come up empty.
A parent or guarantor paid the deposit
They are a relevant person under Section 213(5) and must be served too. Serving only the tenant is one of the most common reasons the three-times penalty is awarded.

Mistakes that invalidate it

The errors that turn a document you thought was compliant into one that gives you nothing.

  • Serving the form without the DPS terms and conditions

    The leaflet requirement in the 2007 Order is unmet, so the prescribed information is incomplete even though the form itself is filled in correctly.

  • Counting the 30 days from the tenancy start date

    The statute counts from receipt of the deposit. A deposit taken three weeks before move-in can put you out of time on the day the tenancy begins.

  • Reusing a terms and conditions PDF saved a year ago

    The DPS revises its terms periodically. Serving a superseded version invites an argument you have no reason to be having — download the current file each time.

  • Assuming adjudication is available whatever the deposit

    The DPS will not adjudicate where the deposit is £5,000 or more. On a high-value let, the county court is your only route, which is worth knowing before the tenancy ends rather than after.

What’s included

  • Names the DPS, with its Bristol correspondence address and helpline
  • Custodial and insured variants — the deposit is described as held by the right party
  • Prompts you to attach the DPS terms and conditions, which is the leaflet the 2007 Order requires
  • Relevant persons section (Housing Act 2004 s.213(5)) for anyone who contributed to the deposit
  • Deposit ID and lead-tenant handling for joint tenancies
  • PDF or DOCX export, with a signature block for the tenant to check and sign

RRA 2025 context

What the DPS does differently. The scheme is a trading name of Computershare Investor Services PLC. Correspondence — and the address that belongs in prescribed information — is The Deposit Protection Service, The Pavilions, Bridgwater Road, Bristol, BS13 8AE. The helpline is 0330 303 0030, open 8am to 6.30pm on working days.

Its dispute service has a ceiling most landlords never hear about. The DPS will not take a case to adjudication where the deposit is £5,000 or more — those parties are left to the courts. For everything below that, adjudication is free, both parties must consent and be bound by it, evidence is due within 14 calendar days of the invitation, and the decision usually follows within 15 working days. It cannot be appealed through the scheme.

If the other side goes quiet, the DPS runs a Statutory Declaration Process: at least 14 calendar days after the tenancy ends, the claiming party swears a declaration before a solicitor and the other party gets 14 calendar days to respond.

Wales is a different regime. Deposits on Welsh occupation contracts fall under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 with its own required-information rules and its own vocabulary. This template covers England.

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Frequently asked questions

Is there a DPS prescribed information leaflet?
Not as a separate document. The 2007 Order requires information contained in a leaflet supplied by the scheme, and the DPS meets that with its Terms and Conditions. The custodial prescribed information form tells you to provide a copy of the DPS terms and conditions with it; the insured form requires them to be attached. Download the current version from depositprotection.com rather than reusing a saved copy — the terms are revised periodically.
Does the DPS write the prescribed information for me?
On the custodial scheme it prepares one for you: the DPS confirms protection to the tenant and creates prescribed information in your account for you to complete and serve. On the insured scheme it does not. Either way, serving it correctly and on time is the landlord’s responsibility, not the scheme’s.
What is my Deposit ID, and does it belong on the form?
The Deposit ID is the unique reference the DPS allocates once a deposit is successfully submitted. Include it — it is how your tenant identifies the protection when they contact the scheme. Your Landlord ID is a separate reference issued to you at registration. There is no current DPS concept called a "repayment ID", despite what older guides say.
When exactly does the 30 days start?
From the day the deposit is received, under Section 213(3) and 213(6) of the Housing Act 2004 — not the tenancy start date, and not the date the agreement was signed. If a tenant pays early, the clock starts early.
What happens if we cannot agree at the end of the tenancy?
Either party can use the DPS adjudication service, which is free. Both must consent and agree to be bound. Evidence is due within 14 calendar days, the decision normally arrives within 15 working days of the adjudicator receiving the papers, and it cannot be appealed through the scheme — only by going to court. Note the DPS will not adjudicate where the deposit is £5,000 or more.

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