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We hold the deposit,
your deposit reference is in the format NI1234567

Your agent/landlord holds the deposit,
your deposit reference is in the format NI1234567

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Return my Deposit

If your deposit is protected in Custodial scheme, the deposit funds will be repaid by the scheme as agreed with agent/landlord at the end of tenancy.

If your deposit is protected in our Insured Scheme, the agent/landlord is holding the deposit funds.

At the end of tenancy, the tenant and agent/landlord should try and come to an agreement about how the deposit should be allocated between parties.

If there is an agreement, then the agent/landlord must repay the tenant the deposit owing to them within 5 working days.
Your agent/landlord can only deduct money from your deposit if you have breached the terms of your tenancy agreement. Common reasons for deduction include:
Cleaning
Damage
Redecoration
Unpaid rent
Gardening
The landlord can only claim to restore any issues in the property to the position they would have been in had you met the terms of your tenancy agreement.

The normal decline in the condition of the property and its contents (known as wear and tear) cannot be charged to the tenant and must be factored into the amount charged for repairs, redecoration or replacements.
If the agent/landlord wants to withhold some or all of your deposit, they should tell you as soon as possible after the tenancy has ended.

In the first instance, you should try to agree on how the deposit should be allocated with your agent/landlord. Most disputes are resolved informally in this way, which helps speed up the return of your allocated deposit.

If you cannot come to an agreement this way, our dispute resolution team will step in to help both parties reach a decision you’re both happy with.

If an agreement can still not be reached, then a TDS adjudicator will decide how the deposit should be split.

All parties must provide evidence to support their claim of how the deposit should be divided. The adjudicator will normally decide based on the evidence received within 20 days after the deadline for submitting evidence.
To release the deposit at the end of the tenancy the lead tenant should submit a ‘Request for repayment’ by logging into their TDSNI Custodial account and following these steps:

1. Go to the deposit summary and click ‘Request repayment of deposit.’

2. Tell us how much of the deposit each party should receive.

3. We will notify the agent/landlord of your request and invite them to respond.

4. If the - agent/landlord agrees with the request, we will repay the deposit.

If the agent/landlord doesn’t agree to the request they will be given the opportunity to raise a dispute and use our Dispute Resolution Mechanism service to decide how the deposit should be divided.
Firstly, you will want to check if your deposit is held with TDSNI. You can check this using this link: Is my deposit protected with TDSNI?

If you cannot find your deposit here, it may be protected with another scheme. Please visit the Government website to find out which schemes operate in Northern Ireland.

If your deposit is held with TDSNI, please follow the below instructions depending on which of our two schemes your deposit is held in, Insured or Custodial.