Property Deposits: everything you need to know

Where is my deposit held?

If the landlord has asked us to collect the deposit, we will register it with MyDeposits, and send it by bank transfer before the tenancy begins. It is then held within their designated client bank account until the end of the tenancy.

As soon as MyDeposits have acknowledged receipt of the funds, we will let you know and provide you with a Deposit Protection Certificate showing that it has been properly registered.

My landlord has asked me to pay the deposit directly to him or her. Is that OK?

We don't recommend conducting financial transactions outside the Treehaus system when setting up a tenancy. That's because there is a much higher risk of fraud if the money is not held by a trusted third party like Treehaus. Equally, if there is ever a dispute, we can refer the matter to the ombudsman for adjudication, releasing it to the correct party when the matter is concluded.

However, some larger landlords have a pre-existing membership with one of the tenancy deposit schemes, and may want to keep them altogether for ease of administration. We'd still urge extreme caution, and if you are in any doubt, insist that the funds are paid to Treehaus as an intermediary. It costs very little for the landlord to register the deposit with Treehaus, and keeps everyone protected from fraud. 

If you do elect to pay the deposit directly to the landlord, they still have to register the deposit with a scheme and provide you with a Deposit Protection Certificate. But this doesn't help much if they were not who they said they were.