#AskTDS: "I am taking over management from my letting agent, how do I transfer the deposit protection from the agent to myself?"

Sometimes in tenancies, circumstances change. In previous blogs, we’ve discussed what changing tenants means for deposits, but there may also be repercussions when the management of the property transfers from an agent to a landlord.

The first consideration should be to find out what tenancy deposit protection (TDP) scheme the agent is using, and if it’s TDS, whether they use the Custodial or Insured scheme.

Here are a few potential scenarios for switching deposit protection:

From TDS Insured to TDS Custodial

If your agent currently uses TDS Insured and you want to make the change to TDS Custodial under your own management, the first step would be to create a custodial membership (if you don’t already have one) and register the details of the deposit under your own custodial membership.

Once you have registered the deposit, you should provide the TDS Custodial scheme bank details and the relevant reference to the agent so that they can transfer the deposit monies directly to TDS. Once TDS receives the money, we will allocate this against the registration, and you will receive an email to confirm the deposit is protected.

From TDS Custodial to TDS Custodial

With switches between custodial members, the process is straightforward. As a TDS Custodial member, you can independently use the member-to-member transfer function.

This seamlessly transfers the deposit from one member to another at the click of a button.

From TDS Insured to TDS Insured

With switches between agents and landlords within the TDS Insured scheme, the process is straightforward.

The landlord would simply have to create an individual landlord membership. They would then need to register the tenancy deposit details under their insured membership and pay the relevant deposit protection fee.

Once they have protected the deposit, proof of this protection can be passed to the existing agent or landlord and they can then transfer the deposit monies over to the new landlord for them to hold.

From an alternative scheme to TDS

There are three Government-backed TDP schemes in England and Wales, and often landlords and agents switch deposits to TDS from the other schemes. In these circumstances, TDS’ Business Development team can assist with the switching process. This process will vary depending on the scheme currently in use and the scheme you want to join.

There is further advice on switching tenancy deposit protection schemes on our switching page.

For more landlord tips, please view our landlord FAQ page.

About TDS

Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) is a government-approved scheme for the protection of tenancy deposits; TDS offers both Insured and Custodial protection and also provides fair adjudication for disputes that arise over the tenancy deposits that we protect.

We provide invaluable training in tenancy deposit protection and disputes for agents and landlords through the TDS Academy as well as joining with MOL to provide the Technical Award in Residential Tenancy Deposits.

TDS Insured Scheme: where a TDS member can hold the tenancy deposits as stakeholder during the term of the tenancy.

TDS Custodial Scheme: where TDS hold the deposit for the duration of the tenancy.

TDS Academy: TDS provides property professionals with invaluable training in tenancy deposit protection and tenancy deposit disputes.

TDS Northern Ireland: TDS is Northern Ireland's leading and only not for profit tenancy deposit protection scheme.

TDS can only comment on the process for our scheme, other deposit protection schemes may have a different process/require different steps. Content is correct at the time of writing.

These views are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the view of TDS, its officers and employees.

ARLA|Propertymark: For agents who would like to stay up to date, you can contact Propertymark | ARLA at: join@propertymark.com. By being a member of Propertymark | ARLA you will be eligible for TDS Insured best headline rates.

RLA: If you are a landlord and would like to keep up to date with any changes that may affect you or your responsibilities, you can contact the RLA at: info@rla.org.uk and quote reference: dg715 to receive 25% off your first year's membership.