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TDS Prescribed Information — and the Leaflet You Must Serve

Prescribed information for a deposit protected with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. Names TDS and its contact details, describes the right product, and reminds you to include the current scheme leaflet from your account.

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 sits with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, the prescribed information has to name TDS, give its contact details and describe how its dispute service works. Section 213(5) of the Housing Act 2004 requires information about the particular scheme protecting the particular deposit — a generic document that could describe any of the three schemes does not do the job.

TDS differs from the other two English schemes in how much of the work it leaves with you. It publishes a prescribed information template as a Word document and expects you to complete it, because — as TDS itself points out — the legislation prescribes the content but no particular layout. Nothing is auto-generated on your behalf. That is why a template that already carries your property, tenancy and landlord details is worth having.

Alongside the completed form you must give the tenant the TDS scheme leaflet explaining how the scheme works. Download the current one from your TDS account each time rather than reusing a saved copy: TDS uses several different titles for it across its own site, and appears to have reissued its leaflets following the Renters’ Rights Act. Serving an out-of-date leaflet is an avoidable weakness in an otherwise complete package.

Thirty days from receipt of the deposit, served on the tenant and on any relevant person who contributed to it. The penalty for missing that window runs to three times the deposit.

Who needs this document

You protect deposits with TDS and fill in their Word template each time
TDS prescribes the content but not the layout, so a document already carrying your property, tenancy and landlord details is just as valid and considerably faster.
You use a letting agent who protects deposits under their TDS membership
Check who is actually serving the prescribed information. TDS is the only scheme that lets agent, landlord and tenant all raise and respond to a dispute, so establish early who holds that role.
You last downloaded the TDS leaflet before the Renters’ Rights Act
TDS appears to have reissued its leaflets for the Act. Pull the current one from your account rather than sending the copy sitting in your downloads folder.
A parent or guarantor paid the deposit
They are a relevant person under Section 213(5) and must receive the prescribed information as well as the tenant.

Mistakes that invalidate it

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

  • Sending the completed form with no scheme leaflet

    TDS is explicit that the tenant gets written details of the protection and a leaflet explaining how the scheme works. Without it the package is incomplete.

  • Naming a specific leaflet title in your own paperwork

    TDS uses more than one title for it across its own site. Referring to "the TDS scheme leaflet supplied with this document" ages better than quoting a filename that changes.

  • Expecting a custodial repayment to complete quickly

    The responding party has 30 working days to react to a proposed split. Landlords who promise a tenant their money back within a fortnight create a complaint that was never necessary.

  • Assuming a dispute will always go to adjudication

    TDS cannot refer a case if either party objects or intends to litigate. A tenant who refuses ADR moves the whole dispute into the county court, at far greater cost to you.

What’s included

  • Names TDS, with its Hemel Hempstead registered address and custodial helpline
  • Custodial and insured variants — the deposit is described as held by the right party
  • Reminds you to enclose the current TDS scheme leaflet from your account
  • Relevant persons section (Housing Act 2004 s.213(5)) for anyone who contributed to the deposit
  • Sets out the TDS dispute route, including the window for raising one
  • PDF or DOCX export, pre-filled from your property and tenancy record

RRA 2025 context

What TDS does differently. The scheme is operated by The Dispute Service Limited (company number 4851694), registered at West Wing, First Floor, The Maylands Building, 200 Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 7TG. The custodial helpline is 0300 037 1001. The custodial and insured products run on separate sites, so make sure you are logged into the right one.

On the custodial product TDS holds the money and protection is free. When a tenancy ends and one party proposes how to split the deposit, the other party gets 30 working days to agree or disagree — a noticeably longer window than the other schemes, and worth setting expectations about. Once agreed, TDS repays within 5 working days.

On the insured product you hold the money and pay to protect it. A dispute must be raised no earlier than 10 days and no later than 3 months after the tenancy ends, and in those first 10 days both sides are expected to make a genuine attempt to settle. Adjudication is free and normally decided within 28 days of TDS receiving the evidence.

One quirk worth knowing: TDS cannot refer a case to adjudication if either party objects or says they intend to go to court. Consent is not a formality here — a tenant who refuses ADR pushes the whole thing into the county court.

Related templates

Documents you might need alongside this one.

Deposit Prescribed Information Template

A schemes-aware deposit prescribed information document. Custodial or insured variants, relevant-persons section (Housing Act 2004 s.213(5)), and the 5-week deposit cap warning for English tenancies. Free to build and preview.

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DPS Prescribed Information

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.

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mydeposits Prescribed Information and Deposit Protection Certificate

Prescribed information for a deposit protected with mydeposits. Sits alongside the Deposit Protection Certificate the scheme issues, names the right product, and carries the declaration you have to sign.

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Landlord Inventory and Schedule of Condition Template

A detailed inventory and schedule of condition. Room-by-room walk-through, every fixture and fitting, condition ratings, meter readings, and a signature block. The single biggest determinant of whether you win or lose a deposit dispute. Build it and preview it free.

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AST Tenancy Agreement Template

A post-RRA tenancy agreement for private landlords in England. Periodic only, with Section 48 inline, configurable obligation clauses and an explicit advance-rent cap. Build it and preview it free; pay £9 only when you download.

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Frequently asked questions

Which TDS leaflet do I have to give the tenant?
The scheme leaflet explaining how TDS works, downloaded from your TDS account at the time you serve. TDS refers to it by more than one title across its own site, and it appears to have reissued its leaflets following the Renters’ Rights Act, so fetching the current file is safer than naming a specific document or reusing an old saved copy.
Does TDS fill in the prescribed information for me?
No. TDS supplies a prescribed information template as a Word document for you to complete. It notes that the legislation prescribes what the information must contain but not how it must be laid out, which is why any complete and accurate document is acceptable. Serving it on time remains your responsibility.
What is the difference between TDS Custodial and TDS Insured?
On custodial, TDS holds the deposit for the whole tenancy and protection is free; at the end, TDS pays the money out once both sides agree. On insured, you hold the deposit and pay TDS to protect it; at the end you release the money to the tenant yourself without involving TDS, unless there is a dispute.
How long does a TDS dispute take?
On the insured scheme a dispute must be raised between 10 days and 3 months after the tenancy ends. Adjudication is free and normally decided within 28 days of TDS receiving all the evidence, with payment following within about 10 days. On custodial, expect the responding party to have 30 working days to react to a proposed split before anything moves.
Is TDS the same thing as SafeDeposits Scotland?
They share a parent but they are not the same scheme, and there is no "TDS Scotland" for deposits. Scottish tenancies use SafeDeposits Scotland, mydeposits Scotland or Letting Protection Service Scotland, under the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 — a 30 working day deadline and the First-tier Tribunal rather than the county court.

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